IF Nicola Sturgeon weren’t in politics she would have made a fine actress. The tragic death of Mercy Beguma saw her strike an angry pose, put on an angry face and declare her anger at the UK immigration policy that she inferred was the cause of the sad death; a performance worthy of any stage or TV production.

However, she expressed no such anger at the Scottish policy whereby elderly patients were returned from hospitals to care homes without Covid testing and we now know that some cases were known to be positive. My estimate of Covid-related deaths in care homes is around 1,200. She has been asked for direct answers to direct questions at First Minister's Questions and at press conferences and has consistently not answered, except to the effect that there will be an inquiry. No timetable has been set for its conclusion but you can bet it will be after the Holyrood elections, by which time woolly terms of reference will be set, an appropriate chairperson appointed and a brush and large carpet procured.

No votes to be gained by telling the truth now, rather votes to be lost, hence no anger here.

Duncan Sooman, Milngavie.

FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon does a cracking job on the BBC every lunchtime updating the people of Scotland with the latest news on the fight against the virus.

The only small problem with the daily BBC update – or should I dare call it the SNP party political broadcast – is that her story takes a different slant at every turn.

Its gone from not wearing a mask to making it compulsory and any spike in the virus can lead to a lockdown in Aberdeen but not in Glasgow, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear sometime soon that the virus can be stopped dead by having another independence referendum.

Perhaps she should start off the daily show by saying "Once upon a time".

Dennis Forbes Grattan, Aberdeen AB21.

I WAS not aware that Alison Rowat was a virologist as well as a journalist. I ploughed my way through her article ("Cut the drama and let us get on with tackling this crisis", The Herald, September 3) searching for an answer to our present crisis. Nothing. Perhaps she would offer some advice at least. Nothing. Her article was a long-winded diatribe signifying nothing but nasty criticism of the Scottish Government.

I am relieved that our safety is in the hands of clear-thinking, hard-working people who, by the way, did not cause this worldwide pandemic. It has landed on them by chance and they are doing their best to deal with it.

The "pain and shock of losing a job or a home" is terrible. Many people have lost their lives and left grieving relatives. Many of those who pulled through have been left with all sorts of debilitating conditions.

Ms Rowat would appear to have no experience of the ravages of this pandemic; I'm pleased for her. Should she be unfortunate enough to be infected I think she would be expecting people like my daughter and her nursing colleagues to look after her. These folk have slogged daily on their 12-hour shifts wearing oppressive protective clothing. Ms Rowat's whining catalogue of complaints does not reflect the reality of our present situation.

Phyllis Mackay, Aberdeen AB15.

FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon's coronavirus strategy is being questioned by public health experts. The "whack-a-mole" approach of trying to drive the virus to the lowest possible level isn't working and infection is surging. Glasgow and Aberdeen, two of Scotland's major cities and almost million (15 per cent) of our population is back in partial lockdown.

She is clearly doing something wrong because infection rates in the west of Scotland are now higher than in most of England or nations like Greece and Portugal she has just quarantined. The SNP's default reaction of blaming someone else – in this case young people attending house parties – is ever more tiresome and infantile.

As Sweden has shown, lockdown is not a given. Yet safety from one disease above all others has been weaponised by politicos who enforce restrictions on freedom acceptable only in a dire emergency. A broader view of what benefits society is lost in a quagmire of viral hysterics which obscure any sense of the common good.

Rev Dr John Cameron, St Andrews.