SO Tory Caligula Boris Johnson is once again revving up his clown car to bring his unfunny circus to Scotland. Presumably he will bring an emergency fridge to hide in should he encounter any of the natives.

The only people looking forward to the visit are the credulous extreme Unionists. They pollute the discourse on independence with foul vileness. They mistake their echo chamber on social media with Scotland as a whole.

Johnson’s trip is a clear violation of the Covid-19 restrictions on cross-border travel. Coming north to tell lies, make threats and a fool of yourself is not in within the rules.

READ MORE: Boris Johnson told to only visit Scotland if he has 'real work' to do

But like all thick, crass, entitled, shallow public school boys, Boris Johnson thinks the rules are for the “lower orders” only.

Johnson comes to Scotland having presided over the second-highest Covid-19 death toll in the world. Johnson – like his fellow bigots in the US and Brazil, Trump and Bolsanaro – takes zero responsibility for the botched response to the pandemic.

The Tory DWP Secretary Therese Coffey stormed off an interview. She did not like being challenged on her assertion that the Covid-19 death toll was due to obesity and the elderly population.

The real reason the death toll has been so high is a decade of economically ruinous austerity. This has seen living standards gutted and incomes crash. All to give to bankers and Tory donors.

READ MORE: Johnson to show 'total disregard' for Covid rules with trip to Scotland

The new variant of Covid-19 first appeared on the Isle of Thanet in Essex, a place that had been ravaged by austerity. Thanks to Tory greed, the conditions for mutation were perfect.

Boris Johnson has used the pandemic to enrich his donors with juicy public-sector contracts. At the same time Tory billionaire Chancellor Rishi Sunak will cut Universal Credit.

The so-called uplift put UC up by a measly £20 per week during the pandemic. Now Sunak and the Tories want to cut this. All so more tax cuts can be given to the very rich.

The Tories are morally unfit to govern Scotland. They have no democratic mandate in Scotland.

Alan Hinnrichs
Dundee

TWENTY issues were discussed in workshops at Saturday’s SNP National Assembly. An idea put forward for discussion but not selected was the potential role, if any, of a campaign or campaigns of civil disobedience.

In particular the relationship that the Scottish National Party and SNP elected politicians at all levels might have, or not have, with such a campaign or campaigns.

In the supporting statement for my unsuccessful submission that this issue be discussed, I did say it was imperative that the SNP does not treat it as a taboo subject.

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I’m still of the view that it would be naive to think that the wider Yes movement will not get around to a discourse on this and related issues, and even more naive if my party thinks it can insulate itself from the impact of any future civil disobedience initiatives.

There may indeed be a formulaic road that will recover Scottish statehood. However, sidebar discourses on the issues around non-violent civil disobedience and other related issues – even if the formulaic route to independence that was very popular in the discussions on Saturday prove successful after the May elections – will in no way undermine the more straightforward formulaic strategy.

I’m still of the view that ordinary SNP members should be afforded a space at some future event to consider that matter, in all of its dimensions.

Bill Ramsay
via email

WITH respect to Munro Ross and Graham Scott (Letters, January 25) I suggest they should carefully study how the D’Hondt system of voting works. Winning too many constituency seats it makes it more or less impossible to win a list seat, even with a huge number of votes, this number being divided by one more than the number of seats already won. Alasdair Forbes (Letters, January 25) is quite correct with his analysis. Some tactical voting is required to ensure a large pro-independence majority in May.

George Wilson
Fochabers

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GORDON Brown has spoken (again) and refused (again) to accept that there should be a second independence referendum even if there is a majority of pro-independence MSPs in Holyrood after the forthcoming elections. Why is he so adamantly against affording Scotland this opportunity for self-determination? Why does he continue to deny the democratic will of the people?

I am genuinely confused by his stance, particularly when I reflect on this moment in recent European history. On February 17 2008, the Assembly of Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia. On February 18 – one day later – the UK became one of the first nations to recognise Kosovo’s sovereignty. The Prime Minister at the time? Gordon Brown.

Archie Love
Hamilton

THE referee’s decision is final, which is why there’s no point telling Douglas Ross that Scotland has chosen a different way of delivering the Covid-19 vaccine based on a model which may save more lives.

To him it’s a “race” to prove that the UK wins out over the SNP government, and we have to accept that he’ll just go on repeating that “mistake” even after he’s proved wrong.

READ MORE: Scotland's Covid-19 vaccine roll-out 'makes absolute sense', WHO doctor says

But hasn’t Ross made a more fundamental mistake? It looks as if he hates the frail and vulnerable elderly, whose lives may be saved more efficiently by the SNP. They’re your support base, Douglas!

And worse, it looks as if he hates the private sector who run care homes, under the watchful eye of Donald Macaskill. Oops!

Derek Ball
Bearsden