AS he is absolutely useless at fighting Scotland’s case in Saint Theresa’s Cabinet, Fluffy Mundell has been shipped off to the South Americas apparently to promote trade with our country and tell them just what a wonderful, dynamic nation Scotland is.

This trip is an opportunity to highlight our fantastic produce, products, services and innovative technology, including in renewable energy. So, does he fly the flag for us?

No, this top flight salesman (not!), in true Unionist tradition, rubbishes our nation to prospective customers and investors.

What Mundell did was belittle our country and mislead about our performance and fiscal and economic health to potential inward investors. Why did he do such a thing one asks, when any good salesman would accentuate the positives and minimise the negatives. He would talk up the wonderful investment opportunities in renewable energy, which we are world leaders in, he would convince the investors that we are a truly viable option for their money.

Mundell has always been out of his depth in the position he finds himself in. He has never represented Scotland effectively. When he has his Unionist and naysayer hat on, when he becomes very enthusiastic about SNP Baad, that’s when he comes into his own.

It is considered within the Conservative Party a heinous crime for a Tory Scottish Secretary to promote Scotland in any positive regard and – despite his and the Maybot’s claim that we are lagging behind the rest of the UK when clearly statistics prove the reverse – only serves to highlight the fact that it is in fact the Westminster Government that is failing to perform and not us.

It also suits their Brexit strategy to talk us down as they know full well that Scotland’s inclusive, outward-looking and progressive attitudes and positivism are renowned worldwide, all of which shines a very negative spotlight on the rUK’s opposite reputation.

Inward investment is going to be crucial in the near future as the Brexit tsunami washes over our country, and it will be the very life rafts that our economy and future will cling to as the good ship Brexit disappears beneath the waves.

So allowing Scotland to get investment and deals that better our nation and our position in the world will simply not be allowed, because if it was, citizens would see that we could make it on our own, freed from the dead weight of rUK and the post-Brexit wasteland it will become and as a consequence finally conclude that independence would be the only viable option.

What Nicola Sturgeon should do is, with much haste, send a top-flight delegation to any country Mundell visited and show them the real Scotland, the Scotland brimming with opportunity and expertise, the Scotland that welcomes not just your money but your companies and your people to come and set up in our country and work with us to make Scotland the beacon of light in the otherwise dreary UK landscape.
Ade Hegney
Helensburgh

I SEE that Willie Rennie is back to his usual talking Scotland down and blaming it all on the SNP.

He complains about the police service being nothing to brag about – I can’t remember when any LibDem (or any other Unionist party) managed to decrease the crime rate by as much as the SNP. We’re now at a 42-year low for crime.

As for all the other comments regarding the state of Scotland, if that is how Mr Rennie sees things then I suggest he pops into his nearest Specsavers and gets a free eye test!
Councillor Kenny MacLaren
Paisley