IN another excellent article in the Sunday National, Michael Russell questioned the “apolitical” bona fides of Scottish Business UK, chaired by Conservative Party donor Robert Kilgour, which has expressed concern over the possibility of an early post-Brexit indyref.

This is the same Robert Kilgour who is currently chairman of the Renaissance Care group that independently manages care homes across the UK and who has been an outspoken critic (via a seemingly compliant if not complicit media) of local councils and the Scottish Government. Truly impartial reporters in the media must desist from simply echoing the subjective questions and views of these persons without clearly informing the general public of the political allegiances of his kind.

Complaints continue to grow over the BBC’s slanted political coverage, as evidenced by Kirsty Wark’s perverse The Trial Of Alex Salmond, and BBC Scotland’s Disclosure series has persistently appeared to undermine the achievements of the Scottish Government. “Bad news stories”, especially in relation to our NHS, seem to have become an obsession with Reporting Scotland. If instead of attempting to portray what proved to be non-existent faults in contact-tracing by Scottish public health authorities in the follow-up to the Nike Conference, the BBC had objectively and thoroughly investigated the already questionable operations of private-care providers, perhaps many lives could have been saved.

The fact that, in spite of the NHS in Scotland having had to take over the running of a privately run care home to ensure high standards of care, the BBC has still not attempted to shine a light into this seemingly dark area of “exploitation” for remote profits of some of our most vulnerable is more than disturbing.

Stan Grodynski

Longniddry

THE coronavirus pandemic has triggered a public health catastrophe and economic collapse. To compound this, the inevitable No-Deal Brexit is suddenly becoming a reality. It has been made possible by greed, lies, hubris and incompetence of the Tory party. This mixed with the unbelievable laziness of Boris Johnson and the scenario becomes even more bleak.

Of course the Tories are busy running around like headless chickens trying to blame everyone else. The EU, the SNP, Remainers, refugees. Like all liars the Tories are incapable of telling the truth. Boris Johnson is a risible buffoon. He has time and time again blundered and blustered from one crisis to another. He is now on his 12th U-turn since the summer.

The sheer incompetence, callousness and indifference to death during the pandemic on the part of the Tories, has shown the failure of capitalism. Johnson and the Tories have bailed out the City with billions in taxpayer money. They then have had a campaign to force workers back to work and teachers and pupils back into the schools, without any protection.

With Tory rule collapsing and oligarch donors looting the country, support for Scottish independence has inevitably skyrocketed. With this has come the rise of a new hate show lead by George Galloway.

Galloway has learned some tricks from Steve Bannon and he intends to use them.

Some sections of the Unionist hard right seek to suppress the independence movement by brute force.

British Unionists seek to portray Scotland in the Union as some sort of terrestrial paradise. If people are dissatisfied, it is because of “propaganda” or a “cult”. This is hogwash. The Unionist ideology is a degrading spectacle of ignorance, filth and political reaction.

Nicola Sturgeon has spent the last four years dithering over an independence referendum. This delay has meant that Scotland will be sunk on the Brexit Titanic despite not voting for it.

Democracy is collapsing, and unless Scotland breaks free from the union, the damage will be incalculable.

Alan Hinnrichs

Dundee