ON Saturday afternoon I was painting the kitchen and listening to Radio 4 (because Radio Scotland is abysmally awful).

Any Questions was on and two of the panel in general political discussion were the Tory Lord Deben, John Gummer, and Sir Howard Davies, the chairman of NatWest.

The show was from Bath and I assume the audience was too.

Towards the end of the programme, Davies made a firm statement that people in the UK voted in the Brexit referendum not on the question of leaving Europe but on another belief altogether. I presume he meant immigration.

His point was that Brexit was a massive mistake and people voted without thought or proper understanding of the issue.

His statement gave rise to the loudest enthusiastic cheer from the audience, which had until then only reacted to anything said with polite hand-clapping.

We knew where Scots stood on Brexit from the beginning but that small Saturday afternoon moment has got me wondering on where exactly England is now.

We have suffered the most crazy, ludicrous and shocking government from Westminster this last eight years that can only be recognised as unbelievable.

The Tory yahoos have arrived at the stage where they exist in power only due to the stupidity of our systems and the still too-nice approach of British people to this situation. No Battleship Potemkin!

So, I’m thinking about Keir Starmer. I assume he remains motivated to double down on Brexit because England is populated with a too large measure of people with right-wing leanings. But, of course that cannot be true. I know lots of great people from England – we all do.

In fact, I cannot think of anyone English that I find detestable apart from the political monsters and such platformed by the fascist media.

Why has Starmer so disgracefully changed from anti-Brexit to Brexit at any cost? Nothing makes sense and I don’t see Starmer as being so personally awful.

The moment was but one snippet of one radio show but everything pointed to the normality and rightness we would expect as part of life in Britain.

So why is Starmer now totally loopy and off the wall against all of our good sense? Westminster’s politicians seem to be in the grip of unseen forces.

Nick Durant

Skelmorlie

IN response to James Cassidy’s long letter (Nov 10) about elected MSPs, MPs and councillors switching parties or going independent while still holding office:

1. I have had the privilege of having a vote now for more than six decades so I have had SOME experience of the “system”!

2. I was brought up to believe that the recipient of one’s vote was “the individual candidate” and not the party.

3. Therefore, somewhere along the line, have “party politics” got in the way and brought “the system” into disrepute?

E Hope via email

I AM very sad to read yet again that women needing abortions at clinics are having to run the gauntlet of protesters holding placards. Some people don’t seem to realise that there are various reasons why women need abortions.

I feel very strongly that it would be good if women needing abortions could be treated in an ordinary hospital, so nobody knows why they are entering the hospital.

If there is not enough room in the existing hospitals, surely small extensions could be added for this purpose and the patient could enter the hospital like everyone else through the main entrance.

Susan Swain

Dunbar