Letters to the press, 18/03/22: Scot-nats can't even take a joke. Where did £4.8 billion in Covid funds go? SNP have no fresh ideas for Scotland. Scots indy only ensures decades of turmoil.

I read the article “Och Aye the Noo and Au Revoir” by an English student at St Andrews that has so offended a certain type of Scot. It was extremely well written, genuinely funny and made some excellent points about Scotland and the UK. It reminded me of Austin Pow-ers star Mike Myers’ earlier role on Saturday Night Live as the owner of a Scottish souvenir shop whose slogan was “if it’s no Scottish, it’s crap!”. Apart from their incompetence in government and non-existent viable Independence plan, what gets me most about the movement is their inability to take a joke and their warped sense of Scottishness. The whole package has resulted in me losing my pride in my own country. These people need to be voted out of every elected body, starting with the council elections in May. Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven. Aberdeenshire.

Working in an area where we are financially audited, I know the importance of a paper trail and being able to evidence where money has come from and gone to. For Audit Scotland to not be able to inspect the Scottish Government’s financial records to its satisfaction should be embarrassing at best, with heads rolling at worst (“Data gap’ leaves auditors unsure where £5bn Covid emergency money went”, The Herald, March 17). Yes, there was a requirement to get money out the door to those that needed it soonest but that does not mean that good practice should go out the window. £4.8bn is no small sum and as the Auditor-General said, “knowing where the money went matters”. It does matter as first, it may have got into the wrong hands, as fraud would have been rife with many hoping to benefit from the chaos that ensued. Secondly, it is taxpayers who will be paying this money back for many decades to come. Finally, if you don’t know what went where, how do you know you spent it all? If we can’t trust the SNP Government to maintain transparent financial records, how can we trust it with anything else? Jane Lax, Aberlour.

Just how often does Nicola Sturgeon think she can brush aside a problem with her standard SNP response of ” we take this seriously? Her latest “serious” reply, with little actual content, was to the shocking backlog of court cases in Scotland. but there are so many other issues that could be inserted such as mental health cases, routine hospital operations or even just ordinary hospital consultant referrals etc. The truth is, running even a devolved administration is frankly beyond the current Scottish Government and any input from the Greens has just exacerbated the problems. Far from being a great government in control of everything. as Ms Sturgeon would like you to believe, we are demonstrably witnessing standards fall-ing in almost all departments, from potholes to ferries. Fixing Scotland’s genuinely serious problems requires fresh thinking from a fresh government, not minor tweaks from a tired SNP. Gerald Edwards.

Sir, – I read with interest the correspondence on the independence debate from both unionists and nationalists. Of course, both sides make very good arguments for their case, and indeed there are positive reasons why we should remain or leave the union. While the debate continues, polls show once again that the result will be too dose to call, and a small percentage victory would enable either side to claim a mandate for change or maintain the status quo. With the polls showing such a close referendum, one side will be disappointed and, like Brexit, this will inevitably bring deep divisions between the population. Since May 2015 when the referendum on Brexit was announced there has been seven years of turbulence, with not only Brexit, followed by Covid, now the Ukraine war and the various issues emanating from climate change – the world has seen unparalleled upheaval. As a lesson, the Brexit saga started in 2015 and is still ongoing; changing constitutional issues takes time and resources and should not be taken lightly. It should also be remembered that Scotland will be divorcing the rest of the UK, and is not in a position of strength regarding negotiations from the rest of the UK. As seen from the Brexit talks, independence from the UK will be protracted and some see it as more difficult. For instance, Brexit did not involve currency, security etc, and on top of that the carving up of the national debt (somewhat larger following Covid) as well as borders (Northern Ireland has still not been solved), together with new customs controls will provide lawyers with long and protracted consultations. So, the question is not only do the population of Scotland want independence from the rest of the UK, but to endure further years of turmoil? One thing is for certain, even if independence does go ahead there will be other occurrences that will throw the world into turmoil. For me, a quiet life would be in order, with no other distractions than watching the world go slowly by. Brian Gofton.

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