WHEN on the election stump in 2019, Boris Johnson repeatedly and bombastically lied by saying that there would be no checks between Northern Ireland and the mainland UK with his Brexit deal. This was untrue, and Johnson knew it was untrue, but he also knew that the Tory tribal media where he made his career would never hold him to account. This is because he is one of them, a class warrior for the privileged few.

Now Johnson is trying to lie his way out of the Northern Ireland protocol he negotiated and he agreed to. He is trying to blame the EU for his duplicity, saying it needs to be modified or he will abandon it.

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During the worst pandemic in 100 years Boris Johnson’s corruption, ineptitude, crassness and buffoonery were brutally displayed. He is alleged to have remarked “let the bodies pile high” in response to suggestions of a third lockdown. This would be entirely in keeping with the utter contempt he displays for anyone who is not in his own social class.

Now his callousness, his indifference and his bigotry are on full display after he said “never mind” about increased cancer deaths and decreased life expectancy. In the 2019 election campaign Johnson was presented with a picture of a four-year-old boy forced to lie on a pile of coats in a hospital awaiting treatment. He refused to look at the picture or acknowledge the suffering of this small child.

He seems to think that if he denies a problem exists, it will magically disappear. He is trying to deny there is a fuel crisis. This crisis is entirely the fault of his Brexit catastrophe that got rid of tens of thousands of HGV drivers back to the EU with no plan to replace them.

Boris Johnson is the product of a sick and depraved political culture. His every foul vile utterance of reactionary political filth is designed to whip up fear, prejudice, intolerance and hatred in his backward, uneducated base. All to protect the obscene fortunes of the oligarchs, arms dealers, City swindlers, newspaper proprietors, tax avoiders and other fraudsters whose wealth was acquired by theft and exploitation.

Alan Hinnrichs
Dundee

THE nuts and bolts of Brexit had not been remotely thought about. Do you not recall the shock and horror evident on the faces of BoJo, Gove and Farage et al when they realised they had actually achieved a Brexit majority? Bojo was “not to be found” for days thereafter.

Now, vast swathes of England have placed their whole trust into the rhetoric of the Tories, and not because the people are nasty or largely xenophobic but because there is no choice for them. Down south, there is no SNP. In fact, England has NOTHING! (Would you, in your right mind, ever vote Labour or Liberal?)

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The UK was lied to. Labour/Liberal were rightly resoundingly distrusted. Social policies were incompetent for guiding an increasingly diverse population, and that all caused very unhappy people to grasp at the only straw offered by quite ignorant and stupid populists who were also supported by an entirely malicious media. For England, it’s game over.

Meanwhile, the fruits of Brexit have fallen to the ground and the rot has set in. This is and will be unpleasant. Eventually some natural order will start to form. Trade will evolve to suit the new reality. Society will adapt. Who knows how long it will take: five years? 10? Longer? Difficulties will be left to run their course.

No turkeys, too many pigs, no transport, no students, cars three times the price ... whatever.

Five years? Look back in anger? Who can say? The die is cast.

But, in Scotland and only in Scotland, we can drive forward and upwards with independence. Owning our resources. Friendship worldwide. Open hearts with Europe. Supporting our people. Pride in Scots’ well-proven ability to excel.

Nicholas Durant
via email