Letters to the press, 07/6/22: "lf, as seems certain, there is no referendum next year, what will the SNP do with the £20 million of our taxes they have set aside for it? They could, I suppose, build another couple of pretend embassies, say in Outer Mongolia or the Sahara desert. Or fund some more jaunts overseas for their leading figures to grandstand."

Kate Forbes announces massive spending cuts for many sectors of Scottish economic and social life. Her taxation policy has brought in less money than she anticipated. Nicola Sturgeon blames Westminster for these cuts, which will particularly hurt local authorities. Standard reflex. It does not occur to her that spending a lot more than you earn is an incompetent way to run an administration. What would normally happen to a government that raised taxes, received less revenue from these taxes and then cut spending radically? Jill Stephenson, Corstorphine, Edinburgh.

SNP MP Alyn Smyth MP says the SNP may have to support nuclear weapons to join Nato. Sir John Curtice has advised that keeping the Queen would win votes in a referendum. They want to keep the pound, they are closing their biggest 2014 asset – the oil industry – they don’t want a border with the UK, they want to be our “best friends” and they want the UK to continue paying Scotland’s £8bn pensions post-indy (they can’t and they won’t). Surely the best way to achieve all that is to ditch the whole idea and spend the £20m on something more useful. Allan Sutherland, Willow Row, Stonehaven.

lf, as seems certain, there is no referendum next year, what will the SNP do with the £20 million of our taxes they have set aside for it? They could, I suppose, build another couple of pretend embassies, say in Outer Mongolia or the Sahara desert. Or fund some more jaunts overseas for their leading figures to grandstand. What we can be certain of is that it will not be used for helping reduce drug deaths or our pothole-ridden streets or alleviating the problems of the poorest Scots. Alexander McKay, Edinburgh.

It’s a sign of the small-mindedness of the SNP government that it didn’t organise a Platinum Jubilee dinner for all MSPs of whichever Party. Such an event would not have compromised SNP principles in any way. Scotland is still part of the United Kingdom, whether the SNP like it or not, but it’s always been unrealistic to expect any level of graciousness from Nicola Sturgeon and her Blue Meanies. Steve Hayes, Leven, Fife.

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