Letters to the press, 10/05/22: "Nicola Sturgeon urged voters to "Send Boris a message" and opinion polls forecast a 44% vote share. In fact, the SNP got 34%. Only 641,000 - one in seven - of Scotland's 4.3m voters voted SNP. Scotland's "message to Boris" is: Scexit has been eclipsed by Covid, economic crisis and war, and dogged by SNP incompetence, scandals and cover-ups. It is running out of steam and into the buffers of voter anger and apathy"

During the council election campaign, Nicola Sturgeon urged voters to “Send Boris a message” and opinion polls forecast a 44% vote share. In fact, the SNP got 34%. Only 641,000 -one in seven – of Scotland’s 4.3m voters voted SNP. Scotland’s “message to Boris” is: Scexit has been eclipsed by Covid, economic crisis and war, and dogged by SNP incompetence, scandals and cover-ups. It is running out of steam and into the buffers of voter anger and apathy. Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven.

The SNP deputy leader at Westminster, Kirsten Oswald, has produced the latest version of”Indyref 2 is coming” by saying the local council results have shown there was “a real appetite” for a fresh vote. She called this a “cranking up” for indyref 2 which, of course, means little. For just how long can the SNP find new words that sound convincing but mean nothing? No matter how you interpret the figures from the local elections there is still no majority for winning an independence referendum and those figures that the SNP/ Greens currently have will inevitably fall as the true cost of independence is spelled out. The more interesting question is: What will happen to Nicola Sturgeon’s “cranked-up” leadership when she fails to deliver in 2023. Gerald Edwards, Glasgow.

Loyalty lacking SNP ministers are objecting to Scottish schoolchildren receiving the book about the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. It confirms that the SNP do not like or respect the Queen for her devoted service to the UK. Dennis Forbes Grattan, Aberdeen

We’ve had a run of upheaval and we aren’t through. Brexit, Covid, Ukraine. What’s next? Who knows? But one thing is clear in the past two years, the world has changed dramatically. Security is a basic human need. Sometimes, we have no control over events that bring insecurity and danger but sometimes we gamble our security for strong-minded whims, and we have to bear the responsibility. Scottish independence is one such whim. If we pursue this headstrong course, we risk massive insecurity financially and even physically. In a dangerous world where we can’t take freedom, security or prosperity for granted, it would be madness to kid ourselves that an independent Scotland could be better off. Consider the Covid crisis: independent rules in Scotland didn’t help as we are clearly seeing right now, but despite much criticism, Westminster got the big thing right and secured vaccine stocks well ahead of the rest of Europe and we benefited from this along with the rest of the UK. Consider the current crisis in Ukraine. Who would have believed this could happen in the 21st century? But unity is strength. An independent Scotland at a time of such insecurity would weaken Nato and we would do well to admit it poses a greater risk for Scotland than any other country. Why not focus our energies on the core common goals of security, care of the people and prosperity? The alternative is insecurity at every level. Ian Paynter, Glasgow.

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