I AM so glad Boris’s band of podium “experts” are not teachers, because these briefings are about as bad as you can get when it comes to explaining or convincing anyone of anything.

What we have are slides that no-one can see, and explanations in voices that are so bland and meaningless they might as well be delivered by a robot. Not one of these “performers” would last five minutes in a classroom or lecture theatre and yet here they are trying to address the whole nation – no wonder no-one is listening.

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Then we have Boris himself trying hard to do a Churchillian impersonation but failing to keep his face straight – there is no gravitas about him and no trust. He promised us a “world-beating” test and trace – failed. He is now promising rapid testing – results in 10 minutes which can do whole communities and even whole cities. Which of his Tory donors/contacts has that contract and does anyone believe him?

In the Great British Bake off participants are often told to under promise and over deliver – I wish someone would say that to Boris and mean it. Boris has promised much but has only delivered failure so far.

Winifred McCartney
Paisley

I AM not a member of the SNP but I have supported them since 2007 and reckon they do a good job of managing civil life in our lovely country. Having said that I have become a bit wary off their independence strategy. I am not saying that they do not wish independence, simply that a couple of events have made me question what is going on.

Firstly, their continued refusal to allow a Plan B vote at the party’s conference, this year and last. Surely you need a fall back if your preferred option is rejected. Secondly, they are deliberately hindering the current Section 30 court case which will, if successful, allow the Scottish Government to hold a referendum without Westminster’s agreement that would then be binding on Westminster. Why are they doing this?

They promise a draft bill to hold a referendum just before the May 2021 Holyrood election. Note the word is "draft". Is this just a vote catcher? I hope not. The draft bill will have a process to go through to get onto the statute books. The UK Government will no doubt take it to the Supreme Court, where they may be able to scupper it in a similar way to the EU Continuity Bill of 2018. Nothing is guaranteed. So why are they so against the Plan B vote at conference and the court case for a referendum?

It makes no sense to me. I wish they would come out an answer my concerns and the concerns of those like me who are financially supporting the court case, and those within the SNP who want a Plan B.

Robert Anderson
Dunning

IN accusing the First Minister of anti-English rhetoric, Willie Rennie has raised his game from silly to very silly. Perhaps he’s unaware that closing borders is an important means of controlling the spread of the virus. Covid-19 has no national loyalties, it’s a killer bug looking for people to infect. The countries most successful in tackling the virus closed their borders early on. This is a pragmatic public health decision – not racism.

But Willie Rennie does have a track record of prioritising his political agenda over issues of public health. Neither he, nor any of his MSPs, have attended a meeting of the Scottish Government’s cross-party health committee since August. He was also happy to join other opposition parties in pressurising the BBC to stop the First Minister’s highly informative daily coronavirus updates.

Pressure from the public encouraged the BBC to reinstate them. Because, unlike Willie Rennie, Nicola Sturgeon has been prepared to subject herself and her decisions to regular public and press scrutiny. She has shown strong and courageous leadership when it’s been most needed. Meanwhile, Willie Rennie – his eye on his political future – is already pounding the streets and knocking on doors – defiantly mask-less.

If Willie Rennie needs something useful to do, he might turn his forensically critical eye on the detail of how Test & Trace operates in the UK, and how that impacts on Scotland. The Lighthouse lab in Glasgow is run by the private company Serco and people from Scotland have been directed to Serco labs in England for testing. Public health in England has been outsourced to the private sector at huge public cost and unimaginable incompetence. The systematic destruction of the NHS in England in favour of big bucks for Boris’s pals is a tragedy, and should give Willie Rennie pause for thought because this is heading our way.

When so many people are dying, grieving, losing their jobs and their homes, when the present is scary and the future scarier, we need strong and sensible people in charge. Willie Rennie is not one of them.

Marsali MacDonald
Peebles

GREAT news that Paul Kavanagh can now buy a new home (Anonymous well-wisher donates £20k to Wee Ginger Dug fund, October 31). Also that one of the best columnists will be writing more frequently for The National.

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Speaking of compassion, Nicola is doing a great job but must be getting very tired. Perhaps she would otherwise have been a bit kinder to a dedicated MP who acted foolishly while under the influence of Covid-19 and a bit stricter on the attack dogs who led the failed proceedings against Alex Salmond.

We badly need to move forward with a clear strategy for independence – including Joanna Cherry’s proposed legal proceedings – or we risk getting lost in squabbles possibly encouraged by agents provocateurs.

Mary Ross
Edinburgh