Letters: Forget Sturgeon, what about the calibre of her underlings?

Nonetheless, whatever the calibre of its leader, an effective government relies heavily on capable subordinates. This episode has exposed serious shortcomings from Deputy First Minister down, not just in respect of the handling of the litigation and its aftermath but also in respect of the original investigation itself. While Ms Sturgeon justifiably retains strong personal ratings, it will be a good thing if the Scottish public begin to look beyond the capabilities of its leader and start to examine the true calibre of her cohort.

Colin Forbes, Glasgow.

* MANY seem to think the Nicola Sturgeon/Alex Salmond debate is binary – that one of them must be wrong. I am reminded of Enoch Powell, who said that all political careers end in failure. What we are in fact witnessing is the end of both political careers because they are both wrong and 14 years of their SNP misrule and underachievement stands witness to that.

John Dunlop, Ayr.

INDYREF2 WOULD MEAN MORE CHAOS

IAN Blackford has stated that another independence referendum could happen late this year despite all that it is happening at the moment. It was almost two years from the ratification of the Edinburgh Agreement in 2012 to the actual referendum in 2014, so to suggest that a referendum could take place in nine months is merely politicking on his part.

I have lived one-third of my life now with the threat of my country seceding from a long-standing political union that has stood for 13 generations.

Mr Blackford is very fortunate to have the middle years of his career during the biggest economic expansion in human history and a period of relative peace (at least in Europe). But yet he would cause more chaos for my generational cohort by promoting another independence referendum, during a global pandemic and another economic contraction, despite this being of little concern currently.

Perhaps he could do the job he was voted in to do: build a stable Scotland, within the UK, where those with the means can find the opportunity to better themselves, much like he did.

David Bone, Girvan.

MORE DOUBLE STANDARDS

YOU report ("Payout for Rutman over Patel bully row", The Herald, March 5) that Home Office chief Sir Philip Rutman has accepted a substantial sum (believed to be £340,000 plus legal expenses) after launching legal action against the Home Secretary Priti Patel. She was found to have broken the ministerial code.

I am unreliably informed that Ruth Davidson, Douglas Ross and, of course, Margaret Mitchell (oh, please, let us have more of Margaret Mitchell’s questioning) have demanded that the Home Secretary faces an eight-hour Parliamentary inquiry.

Whilst we are waiting for this to happen, we can enjoy the fury of some of your regular correspondents that Nicola Sturgeon calmly and convincingly answered the committee’s questions. Dr Gerald Edwards (Letters, March 5) says that she was shown to be fallible, apparently not a good thing. Thank heavens for the infallibility of the Prime Minister. On the same page, Richard Allison fulminates that “not one single person in government or the Civil Service” has paid any price whatsoever. I presume he had the illegal actions of Matt Hancock’s contracts in mind? And the EU is looking to take action against the UK Government for breaking an international treaty.

All these are facts. Not speculation.

Hamish McPherson, Giffnock.

A CLEAR STRATEGY FOR GAELIC

I WRITE in response to your article about Gaelic ("Scottish Government ‘appears to lack strategy to save Gaelic’ says SNP MSP", The Herald, March 5).

At a national level, there is a strategy for Gaelic. It is contained in the National Gaelic Language Plan which is agreed by Scottish Ministers. We welcome Alex Neil’s support for one of the key messages in the current plan. It states that retaining an economically active population in island and rural communities where Gaelic is still spoken by the majority of people is critical, and Bòrd na Gàidhlig consistently promotes this in its work.

Bòrd na Gàidhlig takes listening to the various Gaelic communities extremely seriously. In the last six months alone, we have held a variety of consultations and attended a wide range of meetings with community representatives.

Our online consultations included seeking views from Gaelic speakers and those interested in Gaelic on their priorities and concerns for the language. This will inform the development of the next National Gaelic Language Plan. Another was about funding and sought recommendations for potential improvements. A third was an online survey for young people, aged 9-19, followed by a series of focus groups. The last was delivered in collaboration with three national youth organisations, demonstrating our partnership approach. In our most recent stakeholder survey, 82% of respondents agreed with the view that Bòrd na Gàidhlig fulfils its duties effectively and provides support.

Shona NicIllinnein, Ceannard, Bòrd na Gàidhlig, Inverness.

HELP THE POOR GET THE VACCINE

PEOPLE in this country are getting their Covid-19 Vaccine, and our Government has ordered more than enough vaccines to vaccinate us all, yet many countries cannot get enough vaccines because of price and lack of supplies.

March 11 is People's Vaccine Day of Action and is also the anniversary of the day the World Health Organisation declared Covid-19 a worldwide pandemic.

March 11 is also the day the World Trade Organisation considers the proposal to waive patent rights on Covid vaccines. India and South Africa have proposed a temporary waiver of parts of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property rights (TRIPS )related to Covid vaccines and treatments. The UK Government has not yet supported this proposal, claiming that it has donated to the WHO fund for vaccines, yet the capacity to produce more vaccines is also very important. There are pharmaceutical companies in some poorer countries that have the capacity to make vaccines, if they had access to the information they need. The large pharma companies who have developed the vaccines have done so with huge financial support from governments in rich countries, and scientists in universities, yet they are making huge profits. Sharing the vaccine fairly is not just a moral issue, but a safety issue. If there are large parts of the world where the Covid19 virus can multiply and develop new strains none of us will be safe..

We can put pressure on our Government to support the proposed waiver by signing the petition at globaljustice.org or by asking your MP to support the Early Day Motion (EDM1451) in the Westminster Parliament.

Shelagh King, Galashiels.

STUMPED BY CRICKET SCENES

WHILST watching the current India v England Test match on Channel 4 I noted the almost complete absence of face masks being worn by spectators. Moreover, those England supporters present were seated cheek by cheek in a designated area with no regard to social distancing. Presumably many of these same fans will soon be returning home, thus potentially contributing to the spread of Covid. Such disdain to recommended safety procedure is just not cricket.

Allan C Steele, Giffnock.

LAMENTABLE LOSS OF LATIN

GORDON Casely (Letters, February 5) is incorrect when he writes "One double-deck bus: two double-deck bi". “Bus” is short for “omnibus” (L, dative tense, for all). Omnibus has no plural; consequently the plural of bus is buses.

I trained medical students who now commonly fail to fully understand the required vocabulary, but can parrot the words; making them vulnerable to an older generation of teachers and, more importantly, to errors of communication and clinical errors. It is axiomatic that clinical science is not understood if the vocabulary is not understood.

One of the many failures of state education in Scotland is dropping the Classics (Ancient Greek and Latin). My wife deplores dropping Domestic Science, but about that I dare not comment further.

Dr William Durward, Bearsden.

BANKS SHOULD GIVE REFUNDS PLEDGE

NEWS that the limit for contactless card payments is to be raised to £100 is alarming, as the downside for the cardholder is greater exposure to fraud ("Cash card limit in shops is increased to £100", The Herald, March 4). The banks should therefore also provide a no-quibble refund scheme, as experience shows that they look for every excuse to avoid refunding fraudulent transactions, and have an institutional disregard for customer welfare.

Malcolm Parkin, Kinross.

HARRY AND MEGHAN WILL LOSE

IT appears that the war of words between the royal family and the Sussexes is set to continue ("Duchess speaks out over ‘false claims’", The Herald, March 5). It is all becoming a bit unseemly.

This is an exchange which, I believe, the Sussexes are unlikely to win. The Queen obviously loves her grandson, Harry, but there are limits to the extent of her indulgence, as was shown with her reaction to his request to be as it were, half-in and half-out of the royal family.

The Firm, as it is often referred to over the years, has met and handled many challenges of greater moment than being faced with the contentions of Harry and Meghan from afar. That couple would do well to pay attention to the motto so often applied by members of the royal family – "never complain, never explain". Prince Andrew departed from that dictum to his cost.

Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.

Read more: Let's be proud we subject our leaders to full public scrutiny