I WAS bemused by the heading on today’s lead letter, “Be grateful we have a leader who won’t pass the buck” (October 22). Since the correspondent, Frances McKie, seems to live a little north of Dingwall (I had to look up where Evanton was) I suspect she has not felt the full force of the lockdowns currently imposed on the rest of us in the central belt.

The fact is that the First Minister has indeed passed the buck. She has passed it on to us. The reason we are now all suffering is because the Scottish Government, like the UK Government, was unprepared for a respiratory pandemic.

There was no reason for a lack of foresight as the dangers to our normal way of life were well known. The Cabinet Office National Risk Register published in 2008 outlined 12 nasty things which might happen to us and a flu pandemic was stated as having the highest relative impact.

Now that we are to have a five-tier set of restriction levels, in order I assume to outdo Boris Johnson’s three, I expect the already confused public may eventually give up learning the geographic expectations and rebel against the Holyrood policy dictats. After all, hasn’t the SNP been trying, since the independence referendum, to teach us that rebellion is good for us?

Bill Brown, Milngavie.

WHEN the Scottish Government in its infinite wisdom announced its 16-day "circuit breaker", I predicted (Letters, October 8) that it would undoubtedly extend it. Lo and behold, surprise, surprise, it has come to pass. Given its perfect record of inflicting misery upon the public, it was always on the cards.

It would appear that for some unknown and unexplained reason our leaders seem to have decided that the battle against the coronavirus has not made us miserable enough, so they’ve opened up another front against the hospitality and tourism industries.

Nicola Sturgeon declared that the latest extension “makes sense”, although, as usual she did not back her statement up with any coherent evidence as to why it does.

Well, I believe that what would really “make sense” is an effective track and trace system, a quarantine system that actually works and a clear plan to help us out of this mess that does not involve constantly going into lockdowns which, it would appear from past experience, don’t work.

Alas, given the Government’s complete inability to do any of the above I suppose it’s much easier to blame everything on us poor benighted souls who have the misfortune to live in the seemingly constant gloom of present-day Scotland.

Dave Henderson, Glasgow G12.

I NOTE Rosemary Goring's column ("Is it realistic to expect everyone to stay in the civilian version of an open prison", The Herald, October 21). What really makes the current regime so wearisome is people such as her incessantly fanning the flames of discontent by reminding everyone that they are anxious, apprehensive and in this for the long haul. The prison that Ms Goring refers to, is built on boredom, "intermittent malaise" – not even full-blown – and a black hole where imagination should be.

She cannot see beyond gardening and dog walking to fill her empty days (it’s not as if she has a business to worry about losing) but many, many other people can and have taken full advantage of this enforced slowdown to reassess their values in life. These people have given their time, their – now redundant – skills, their energy and, most importantly, their positivity to their community, aware that assisting people genuinely less fortunate than themselves (and I’m not referring to those without a dog to walk) is the best antidote for isolation and depression.

If Ms Goring could move beyond her self-pity, perhaps she too could try giving back to the community instead of whining about the current circumstances and drawing inappropriate and condescending associations with long-term prisoners. The last thing "we" (who is this "we" anyway?) need right now is a privileged first world journalist telling "us" we’re depressed.

Grace Barnes, Lerwick.

ROSEMARY Goring asks: "Is it realistic to expect everyone to stay in the civilian version of an open prison?" The answer is no, if the rich and powerful refuse to respect the same rules as the rest of us. The rules don't apply to Tony Blair, Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson, his father Stanley,and the likes. They have shown that we are not all in this together.

We have a choice – we can die of Covid-19 or die of starvation because of the numbers losing their jobs. The Government must give everybody the Universal Basic Income. Most people say we cannot afford to do that. Quite simply, we cant afford not to do it. Then people can afford to stay home if they get sick, and thus do not pass on the infection.

Margaret Forbes, Kilmacolm.

WE'VE heard a lot about the R number. But what about the R word? Recession. A deeper recession by far than that following the financial crisis.

Borrowing by the Treasury has taken the national debt to a sum over £2 trillion. That is £2,000,000,000,000. And the longer business and commerce are closed down the bigger that number will grow.

While Sir Keir Starmer and other members of the well-funded political class are calling for a total national lockdown, and Nicola Sturgeon looks as if she intends to lock down the Central Belt, businesses like hospitality face bankrupcy and mass unemployment because of the lockdown measures already in place. To go further would be disastrous.

William Loneskie, Lauder.

THOUGHTS of compiling a lexicon of Covid-related words were halted on consulting my well-worn Chambers Dictionary.

The first definition of "lockdown" is "an act of confining prisoners to their cells".

Pause for thought after reading that one.

David Miller, Milngavie.

I’M dreaming of a Covid Christmas,

Not like the ones I used to know,

Where you keep your distance

And children listence

To hear nae bells in the snow.

I’m dreaming of a Covid Christmas

With every Christmas card I write

May your pay be furloughed all right

And may all your sphincters remain tight

I’m dreaming of a Covid Christmas

Just like the ones I used to ken

Where bar tops glisten

And drinkers listen

To hear last orders ’cause it’s ten.

I’m dreaming of a Covid Christmas

With children causing trouble

As Santa confesses

They’ll be no pressies,

“I’m no in yer little bubble.

Mark Bratchpiece, Motherwell.

Read more: Letters: Be grateful we have a leader who won’t pass the buck