Letters to the press, 30/05/22: "In present-day Scotland, our Saltire flag is often defaced with political symbols that mean the display of any other flag is not tolerated and is shouted down. Such is the divisive nature of nationalism; within families, friends, neighbours and workmates, it is damaging, like a cancer that kills its host."

It matters not a jot to me whether we have a monarch, president, prime minister or chancellor as head of state. We’ll always have an elite to represent us and our Queen has been well regarded around the world for 70 years. It’s odd then that in Scotland we see little by way of celebrating her. The reason we do not see more bunting and Union flags is because of the political misappropriation of our beautiful Saltire. The display of any other flag is shouted down. Such is the divisive nature of nationalism. Allan Thompson, Bearsden, Glasgow.

SNP profligacy was bound to catch up with it in the end. (‘Warning of huge cuts as Scot-land faces £3.5bn funding gap’, Scotsman, May 2). The claim that Scotland was the “lowest taxed” area in the UK, which was always a somewhat contrived one, will now be severely tested. Raising taxation on lower-paid workers will be well nigh impossible given the current cost-of-living crisis and taxing higher-paid workers who already pay more is unsustainable Cutting services will be a beacon of obvious failures after 15 years of SNP rule. It seems that the SNP might have to finally be “transparent” and admit it is all going wrong. This also brings into even sharper focus just how “independence” is going to be paid for. Going cap in hand to Westminster for more money would finish that off too. SNP “spin” will not solve this problem. Gerald Edwards, Glasgow.

Finance Secretary told Holyrood that he had never heard of the economic theory called the “Laffer Curve”. This is a graph that purports to prove that increasing income tax actually has the effect of reducing tax revenues. I wonder how many of the current team of Cabinet Secretaries have heard of the “Dunning-Kruger Effect”. This defines a type of cognitive bias where people with little expertise or ability assume they have superior expertise or ability. This overestimation occurs as a result of the fact that they don’t have enough knowledge to know they don’t have enough knowledge. Donald Lewis, East Lothian.

It has been widely reported the Scottish Government may have to ask Chancellor Rishi Sunak for assistance in plugging a £3.5 billion black hole in its finances. Apparently, this has been caused by the SNP’s, sorry Scottish Government’s, extravagant spending. Extravagant isn’t the word I would use to describe the incompetent wastefulness embraced by Sturgeon & co. It’s a little like the idea of just throwing money at the NHS and hoping that some of it sticks and fixes the problems. I would describe it as more akin to improv-ident, uneconomical or ruinous. It’s interesting just how much taxpayers’ money it is prepared to throw at something, anything, rather than fix it once and for all. Bryan Wright, Greenock, Renfrewshire.

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