FROM disingenuous, provocative statements, to excusing racist policies and strategies, the Tory party leadership and Republican Party in the US have been pretty much in lockstep in recent years, their “special relationship” cemented by their shared belief in their own exceptionalism and their contempt for the common good.

How sad to see that Gordon Brown too has succumbed to the US playbook and is adopting some of their strategies as his own. “Extreme independence”! Brown has now used that term in two presentations within a couple of weeks.

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Straight out of the Trump playbook, Brown clearly calculates that the term will raise concern and angst (as anything extreme is guaranteed to do) and work against the growing demand for independence.

Truth, it seems, matters less than creating a slogan around which your supporters can coalesce. No evidence about the “extreme” nature of independence is forthcoming. No detail provided to support the theory that the independence the SNP seek would set Scotland beyond any other independent country.

For Brown, who clearly now sees the writing on the wall, veracity and reasoned argument no longer matter.

The US game is in town; repeat the mantra, build fear, never justify and to hell with the truth!

Iona Easton
Glasgow

“JOHNSON could be the last PM of United Kingdom, says Brown” (July 18), a heading that could become a reality. This article highlighted Gordon Brown’s fears for the future of the United Kingdom, and no wonder. Mr Brown may want to consider the role of the Labour party in where we are today. That will be the Labour party who in the past consistently took the people of Scotland for granted, till eventually voters wakened up to this reality. Labour MPs not truly representing the interest of Scotland in Westminster, Mr Brown included.

It was interesting to hear him calling for the Scottish Parliament to work for a socially just society in Scotland, considering some of the ground breaking legislation the Scottish Government has introduced that is not mirrored in England: abolition of prescription charges; no tuition fees at university; free personal care for all who require it; introduction of the welfare fund to mitigate austerity from Westminster; baby boxes; and finally a more progressive taxation, benefiting those on low earnings. So is it any wonder Mr Brown is having concerns for the future of the United Kingdom?

But seriously, should Mr Johnson become the PM next week it will not only be the Conservative party which takes a massive leap to the right, the country will be taken in the same direction, totally contrary to Scotland’s socially just society and certainly not what Scotland voted for, begging the question, does Scotland want to remain a part?

Catriona C Clark
Falkirk

BENJAMIN Franklin once said: “I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong”. This best describes Gordon Brown’s repeated interventions to “make the case” for Scotland to remain within the United Kingdom.

Brown is fast turning into a real-life Wile E Coyote. It does not matter the number of abysmal failures – he seems incapable of accepting that the task is beyond him.

The imminent arrival of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister is the equivalent of Rome burning in human form. This clearly has Brown and the rest of the ermine-clad Labour Unionists worried. They see the Westminster gravy train leaving the platform forever. Many of the cronies and town hall bureaucrats have a mammoth sense of entitlement and believe that a seat for life in the glorified geriatric home the House of Lords belongs to them.

The funniest aspect of Brown’s latest intervention is that he says that Johnson will pay the price for his two-decades-long anti-Scottish rantings. However, he chose to issue his fatwa in the Daily Mail. This rag has been the organ for some of the most virulent anti-Scottish propaganda of the last 30 years.

Brown feels he has suffered on our behalf and is owed some sort of position. Some within the media feel this way too. Scotland will not be diminished if Brown decides to retire and is never heard from again.

Alan Hinnrichs
Dundee

GORDON Brown and Nick Clegg of “Vow “ infamy and one-line shticks have popped up again. Same old stuff! “Precious Union”, “Scotland is best when leading the UK”, we have heard all this faux repartee and more before. Nothing new. Tired repeats. Yesterday’s men! Peddling old tired gags! It is time to retitle the these old “lags” and put them on the shelf labelled rejects.

John Edgar
Kilmaurs

DAVIDSON is a Tory and absolutely invulnerable to all humiliation, other than that democratically imposed on her and her kind which requires of the state some decency and a cessation of the idiot ideology of pure greed and selfishness These people are as one with the Grand Inquisitor in Karamazov and would “vow loyalty” to Beelzebub himself or Coco the Clown depending on which more convincingly promised further to fill their pockets. It is as sad and as simple as that. God help us.

Daniel McCormick
Crete

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CONGRATULATIONS to David Pratt for his outstanding article “From Kabul to the Clyde ... heroin knows no borders” (July 19) as it highlights the massive problems drug abuse poses for our society. It is obvious that the UK borders are not secure and need tightening if Scotland and other parts of the UK are to have success in the fight against drugs.

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What disappoints me is that a number of Conservative politicians have tried to lay the blame at the door of the Scottish Government, knowing full well that border control is a matter reserved to Westminster.

Does the border control service have adequate funding? This is a matter on which the UK Government should consult with the devolved administrations in order to find ways of reducing the supply of drugs into the country. The UK should be working with their counterparts in other European countries, as distinct from the Brexiteer’s goal of isolation.

Thomas L Inglis
Fintry