I HAVE often heard it said that you can tell a lot about a person by looking at their friends.

What exactly does that say about President Donald Trump when you consider that he speaks fondly about such despots as Kim Jong Un, Mohammad Bin Salman and Vladimir Putin? There is also his support of a great many white supremacists.

Then there is his support of the National Rifle Association and their rabid right-wing membership who do not consider that the many thousands of victims of mass killings reason enough to at least restrict access to military grade automatic weapons.

I sincerely hope that Trump’s endorsement of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage is seen as further evidence that his judgment is, at best, suspect or at worst, evidence of a deranged mind.
Harry Key
Largoward

SO President Trump has endorsed Boris. What happened to not interfering in another country’s affairs? What would the American reaction be if a British politician publicly endorsed an American politician?
David Ritchie
North Ayrshire

IT does not surprise me that the BBC is apparently blanking complaints from the SNP about coverage (BBC accused of

‘bunker mode’ on SNP complaints, June 1). Over many years I have written letters to the BBC varying from pleas to improve honesty,

to complaints about specific manipulation of events, to ones

of outright sarcasm. It seems I am now blackballed, as later letters were ignored.

It is a difficult problem for the

SNP to square – should politicians simply reject all invitations to appear on any programme knowing the disrespect they will experience, or turn up only to have their input cut or curtailed from the broadcast programme?

What we have to accept is that the BBC is biased, always has been and always will be. It is the propaganda arm of the British state after all. I rarely consume any BBC programmes now because I suspect it is not only news bulletins that are tainted. I remember a seemingly authoritative TV programme in the 70s not long after North Sea oil began to flow, asserting that the supply would run out in 10 years! I could quote a litany of other omissions and deceit.

When the BBC is caught with

the blood of a blatant lie on its hands, such as Sarah Smith reversing NHS statistics for England and Scotland, the correction – or heaven forfend apology – is seldom broadcast on the same platform but appears on some twilight programme or even the web.

It is difficult to know how many, if any, BBC reporters have integrity and honesty when posting their copy; but I doubt we will ever see the likes of John Pilger, Paul Mason or Derek Bateman on our screens (the last named did work at the BBC for 20 years, but resigned rather than dilute his integrity).

But perhaps the biggest con of all is that we pay for this propaganda– something many a dictator would kill for.
Richard Walthew
Duns

CHRISTOPHER Bruce, despite his experience, is mistaken about the derivatives of the Avro Lancaster bomber and their longevity (Letters, June 1).

It is true that the York, a straightforward conversion from military to civilian use, entered service during World War Two, initially intended for RAF Transport Command butalso allocated to BOAC, who kept it in service until 1951 as a passenger aircraft and until 1957 carrying freight.

There was, however, a “grandchild” of the Lancaster, via the Lincoln Bomber

derivative, which flew from 1951 until 1991,The renowned Shackleton started service on anti-submarine maritime patrol duties and carried on in this and search and rescue until these were taken over by the jet-engined Hawker-Siddely Nimrod in the 1970s.

A few “Shacks” were then converted for use as Airborne Early Warning systems but were superseded by the Boeing E-3 Sentry in 1991, thus ending a proud history of aviation engineering and capitulating to dependence on foreign supply of defence aircraft.

I do not share a history of involvement in either the military or the aviation industry, but a very early Christmas present of The Golden Wonder Book of the RAF kindled a life-long interest in these aircraft.
Les Hunter
Lanark

YET again there’s another review of a Central Belt restaurant (Scottish Life, June 2). Scotland has a wealth of amazing restaurants, using our fantastic local produce, throughout its length and breadth and I feel they equally deserve a mention like the Edinburgh and Glasgow ones.
Elizabeth Wilson
Ballater