Letters to the press, 14/04/22: First Minister shouldn't throw stones; she's in her own greenhouse. Political point scoring. It's up to the SNP to find extra NHS cash. Scottish Greens will work with you...unless they disagree with you.

Naturally, the First Minister and her acolytes jump all over Boris Johnson, who has been fined for breaking lockdown rules over what seems to be a very minor “offence” of enjoy-ing a brief (allegedly ten minutes) drink with colleagues in Downing Street (his place of work) on his birthday. An event that I would guess he had little knowledge of until it happened. The predictable howls of anguish from the SNP calling for his resignation is unsurprising. However, might I just remind those in the SNP to look inwards a little to the past performance of their beloved First Minister. She states with regard to Boris Johnson that “The basic values of integrity and decency essential to the proper working of any Parlia-mentary democracy demand that he go”. However, Ms Sturgeon’s platitudes seem not to apply at home. It is only a short while ago that the Holyrood Parliamentary Committee investigating the mishandling of false allegations against Alex Salmond found that “Her [The First Minister] written evidence is, therefore, an inaccurate account of what happened and she has misled the committee on this matter”. Might I also suggest to this incompetent First Minister that she reflects on her demands and looks to apply them to herself. People in glass houses… Richard Allison, Edinburgh.

MSP John Mason wrote to an NHS employee, who asked for his support for increased wages. He responded: “One option would be for the NHS to give better pay increases but cut down on the number of staff. But the key question is where is the money coming from.” Imagine his response if the NHS was under Westminster control, not Holyrood’s. The screaming and shouting would be deafening on how Westminster treated the people of Scotland. Surely, it’s SNP/Green Party government’s responsibility to identify where the money will come from. DM, Fife.

The SNP is over the moon that the Prime Minister has been fined for, heaven forbid, being presented with a cake on the day of his birthday in his place of work. I really must remember from now on to refer to a “birthday party” I’ve had at work rather than just saying there was cake. And of course, the SNP will be glad to make political hay out of this, distracting from the more important headlines such as the fall in cancer diagnoses of around 2,800 in 2020 compared to the year before (“Plunge in detection at early stage as Covid pauses tests”, The Herald, April 13). Covid has had and continues to have a disastrous impact on people’s health, firstly the infection itself and on our mental health but also missed opportunities to diagnose and treat cancer and many other conditions. How many of us are now walking around not aware that we have cancer that may have been picked up by routine screening? It was understandable that screening had to be delayed due to Covid but the screening programmes need to now be working round the clock to help people get the treatment they need as soon as possible. Perhaps the SNP could put as much energy into this as it has done in demanding the Prime Minister stand down. I believe that many people will agree with me that this is much more important than political point-scoring. Jane Lax, Aberlour.

At this week’s Scottish Greens manifesto launch, co-leader Lorna Slater said her party “believe in consensus, negotiations and grown-up politics”. She added that “we’ve shown in Holyrood that working with other parties can lead to good government”. Why, then, did she immediately go on to rule out working with the Scottish Conservatives in any capacity? This seems like a very childish approach and the opposite of what she claims to seek. Ms Slater is essentially saying she believes in building consensus and negotiation unless she disagrees with you. Quite a bizarre starting point. Her role as a Scottish Government minister and the increased profile that brings is certainly shining a light on Ms Slater’s contradictory and divisive views. She may want to look “consensus” up in the dictionary and take it from there. J Lewis, Edinburgh.

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Let’s send the SNP a message!! #NoToIndyRef2 #SNPareNotScotland #Unity

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