THE contents of the report from the UK Covid Inquiry ("Scots ‘failed’ by lack of planning for a pandemic by SNP or Tories", The Herald, July 16) should come as little surprise to the general public.

Government and devolved administrations were ill-prepared right across the UK. Critically the report finally debunks the myth that the then First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, had had a “good” pandemic with her daily television appearances and often “front-running” of the wider UK-decision making process.

Regretfully in Scotland we now have John Swinney as First Minister, who singularly failed to act upon a Scottish Risk Assessment that was published in 2018. He, alongside Ms Sturgeon, has some serious questions to consider as to why no preparations were made. No further evidence is required to highlight the damage this SNP administration has inflicted upon Scotland and as with the recent UK General Election, it will be dismissed from office in the Scottish Holyrood election in 2026.

Richard Allison, Edinburgh.

Too much 'group thinking'

THE UK Covid Inquiry’s reported findings are certainly damning. But I trust that, as well as condemning Westminster and Holyrood (always easy targets, as I often find) the report also covers in detail the parts played, or not played, by relevant quangos such as Public Health England and its devolved counterparts, by NHS procurement departments regarding basic acquisition and stockpiling of PPE needs (for which we still depend on China) and by the NHS top management who seemed to ignore most of the Cygnus planning exercise’s recommendations in 2016; again, it is too easy merely to blame that on the diversion of civil servants to prepare for Brexit; and did the BMA and GMC demand immediate action on Cygnus from 2016-2019?

There was too much “group thinking”, and an inadequate breadth of expert advice which ministers did not challenge sufficiently. But a wider spread of advice would have included those other expert medics and scientists who were sceptical of or totally opposed to the advice given by SAGE, which may well have been better advice but would have made the politicians’ decisions even more difficult. And when the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson did challenge certain advice he was inevitably accused by the usual suspects of being callous, cavalier and “not following the science”.

John Birkett, St Andrews.

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READ MORE: It's madness to throw good money after bad at Ferguson Marine

Please, give me reason to hope

BEFORE I am summoned to that great big Polling Booth in the Sky, I would like to vote just once for a party and a cause I believed in with my heart and soul. Since my first vote, in the mid-sixties for Harold Wilson, I have wanted to do so. My choice of Labour was more due to my father than to any political conviction although I was then young and keen on change after many years of Tory dominance and the scandals and lies of the Profumo era.

Fast forward close to 60 years and it is only in detail that things have changed. I voted Labour this time, again with reservations, simply to help rid Scotland of what I see as a corrupt SNP and the UK of an anyway-moribund Tory party that had been in power far too long.

It seems I am voting always for negative reasons. It would be nice before I depart this mortal coil to have just once voted with confidence and unbridled optimism for a party and cause in which I believed.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh.

What is Ferguson Marine playing at?

FERGUSON Marine is synonymous now with delays and overspends, not necessarily due to their failures although the salary cost of the various chief executives over the years against their success in completing the Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa leaves a lot to be desired. The staff at Fergusons were dealt a bad hand from the very beginning and a certain amount of sympathy has to be afforded them. They are no doubt pleased to see that the Scottish Government has invested £14.2 million in the yard to modernise and hopefully make it an attractive proposition for those looking for vessels.

It is therefore frustrating to see the interim chief executive, John Petticrew, say that Ferguson Marine will “aggressively bid for them” (the seven electric vessels for the Scottish islands) when it does not meet one of the key criteria ("Ferguson Marine will bid for new contract to build seven small ferries", The Herald, July 19). The tender documents make it clear that any company bidding must produce three examples of similar work in the last five years. Ferguson Marine will fall before it even gets to the first hurdle so why is it looking to waste money attempting to bid for a contract that it should not have a chance of winning? Or do the management think that they got the initial contract for the two ferries even though they did not meet the criteria of providing a Builder's Refund Guarantee so maybe the same will happen again?

Let’s just say that the Scottish voters will be watching this one with interest. Once bitten, twice shy.

Jane Lax, Aberlour.

It will be back to isolationism

THE idea that Donald Trump and JD Vance would lead the United States to be “Leader of the Free World” goes against all their public statements or what they claim they believe in. A missed bullet does not change their assertion that they will take America back to isolationism, erect barriers to trade and watch the evil men (and they are all men) that Mr Trump previously cosied up to flourish.

They would expel millions of people from the United States to central and South America, causing enormous social dislocation and financial chaos, with unknown repercussions. They would give up Ukraine to a new Russia Empire and force Taiwan into Chinese submission. Putin will not stop at Ukraine as he asserts a mythical Russia geographic hegemony, and if the economy of China is ruined by “unfair” sanctions, then their enormous manufacturing capability may well turn to expanding its own eastern dominion and supporting Russian war aims.

GR Weir, Ochiltree.

This crisis is PANTS

BACK in October 2013 I self-diagnosed myself with a made-up syndrome, PANTS (Persistent Aversion to New Technologies Syndrome).

Not only do I still suffer from this pretend syndrome, which involves happily not owning a car or having TV (since 1999), never having owned a smartphone / microwave / credit card / never having had a social media account or any number of things we're constantly told are essential to live, I've also spent many happy conversations being mocked and patronised by those better informed when I ask them: what happens when the tech "goes down?".

While they are amused by me, I am entirely bemused by the usual answer: "that won't ever happen".

But it did happen a few months ago in Australia, trapping, for example, disabled folk in their tech-controlled homes and today it’s happening on a more global scale preventing folk banking, communicating or flying off to get skin cancer ("Edinburgh Airport issues warning over Microsoft IT outage", heraldscotland, July 19).

I'm not laughing up my sleeve. I'm quaking in my boots, at the sheer blindly mad, delusional quality of it all...

Amanda Baker, Edinburgh.

Get together on waiting lists

HELEN McArdle’s recent analysis ("NHS England seems to be doing something right on waiting lists", The Herald, July 13) spotlights the challenges of tackling NHS waiting times in Scotland and across the UK and is exactly the provocation that’s needed as our governments in Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast and London reset their priorities and look at the possibility of more effective collaboration to deliver these.

While the data collected in each nation does not always allow us to make clear comparisons, all four nations have a core issue: too many people are waiting too long. It is this convergence, as laid out by Ms McArdle, that suggests that the time is right to consider cross-border solutions.

There are more than 45,000 people in Scotland waiting for trauma and orthopaedic treatment. The majority are waiting for joint replacement surgery, mainly hip or knee replacements, one of the most effective and cost-effective procedures on the NHS. The Scottish Government has committed funding to tackle this, and we should see the impact in the coming months. However, it is time for a fresh look at working across governments to address this common problem.

In 2021, Scotland Versus Arthritis held a Waiting Times Summit at the Golden Jubilee hospital in Clydebank. Healthcare professionals, civil servants, researchers, the third sector and patients came together to "address waiting times and what lessons could be learnt from activity across Scotland and from elsewhere in the UK". We hoped to shift the dial, but too little has changed since then and any opportunity to do more needs to be pursued.

Is it time for a new four-nation waiting times summit, bringing together governments, NHS and patients from all four nations to work together on a shared issue? The conditions seem to be positive, and organisations like Versus Arthritis will support any initiative which benefits the tens of thousands of people waiting for life-changing treatment.

Lauren Bennie, Head of Scotland, Versus Arthritis, Glasgow.

Could there be a UK-wide NHS waiting times plan for some operations?Could there be a UK-wide NHS waiting times plan for some operations? (Image: PA)

Build houses before tennis

I HAVE no objection in principle regarding the planned tennis centre proposed by Judy Murray as a legacy to her son’s achievements ("£5m boost for Murray’s planned tennis centre near Dunblane", The Herald, July 19).

However, I’m concerned that it will do nothing to encourage "grass roots" participation.

It is being built on green belt land. It will require people to travel by car, increasing traffic at a busy roundabout.

The four-star hotel and other facilities will encourage the elite, and it is likely to be out of the price range of working-class families.

In addition, if the sports facilities and hotel need to be completed before the planned houses are built, I fear that we will be in another situation like Donald Trump’s Menie estate and golf courses.

No houses have been built there.

If it must go ahead on that site, it seems to me that the houses should be built first.

Gordon W Smith, Paisley.

So irritating, you know

I AM constantly annoyed hearing the vapid expression "you know". It repetitively occurs over the BBC Radio 4 network in particular (wherein celebrities and members of the public are interviewed or tender an opinion).

"You know", once embarked upon, becomes to the narrator like a frog in the throat. One "you now" is never sufficient, as users then have to qualify each and every paltry remark by adding a string of "you knows". So a full day of speech radio can drive you mad.

Not once have I heard a recipient of this meaningless claptrap intervene to stop the perpetual you-knower.

How does one remain compos mentis with this going on, not just all day, but very day?

John Ireland-Matthew, Dundee.