THE great Australian rugby player David Campese once said that the Scots had lots of bravado, but no self-confidence. That struck a nerve. If we are the European champions in drug addiction and litter-louting, it is surely due to our own lack of self-respect. On top of this, Bill Brown (Letters, August 5) opines: “I believe that a nation which lacks the self-confidence to believe in its positive self-identity within a union does not deserve to be called a nation, never mind a separate nation state”. He certainly knows how to kick a man when he’s down. That sounds awfully like a coercive, abusive union to me.

Earlier this week the Prime Minister snubbed the First Minister’s invitation to meet with her ("PM turns down Sturgeon’s invite to Bute House for Covid recovery talks", The Herald, August 4). In a barely coherent response to BBC Scotland’s Glenn Campbell he said he would arrange to meet with the First Ministers of all the devolved governments and assemblies. In other words, he would meet with Nicola Sturgeon, but only under his own terms. He is on record as saying that he thinks devolution was a disaster. Even Mr Brown, who I do not doubt is a “patriot of heart”, must be aware that this Westminster Government will do everything in its power to keep our nation, so lacking in self-esteem, in its place.

I can’t bear it.

Dr Hamish Maclaren, Stirling.

PM SEES RIGHT THROUGH STURGEON

BEFORE your Letters Pages are swamped with complaints that the Prime Minister ducked out of an invitation to meet with the First Minister at Bute House to discuss post-Covid recovery plans during his visit to Scotland, may I point out that he already had a full schedule of engagements and was afforded little or no time to accede to this request. More importantly, he explained to Nicola Sturgeon that he planned a four-nation summit to discuss the matter rather than a Scotland-specific approach. Furthermore, he probably remembers his last visit to Bute House when he was received on the steps by a First Minister who looked like she had a mouth full of wasps.

Predictably she is already making political capital out of this with her SNP supporters who believe all the spin applied to the situation. The PM may also recall the photo opportunity Ms Sturgeon afforded herself when she posed with Theresa May in front of two strategically-placed Saltires on either side of the fireplace in Bute House. Ms Sturgeon may continue to play tactical games where Westminster politicians are concerned; however let her be in no doubt that Boris Johnson and many others can now see right through them.

Christopher H Jones, Giffnock.

SELF-BELIEF WILL SEE US THRIVE

BILL Brown suggests that Scotland has illustrated for centuries that "it is perfectly possible to retain the separate identity of a nation but enjoy the very many advantages of being part of a commonwealth of nations in the form of a political union", ignoring that for centuries Scotland was an independent nation and trading successfully with other European nations. Mr Brown insults the vast majority of the world's independent, peaceful nations when he considers "our Union to be a sign of a nation thinking with its neocortex while we look abroad at so-called nations displaying primal aggression and bloodshed over the ownership and control of land". What about the Iraq war and the aggression and bloodshed displayed by "our Union" in that illegal war?

Mr Brown appears to believe that because Scotland has retained her unique identity (despite efforts to the contrary) we should remain part of this political union, but that ignores the democratic deficit of a union where only England is guaranteed to get the governments it votes for, unlike the other parts of this Union, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. And Scotland hasn't voted for a Conservative government since 1955, but we've certainly had them.

In 2016 Scotland voted to remain within the European Union, and while that decision has been ignored by Conservative governments, in spite of the main party of independence winning the majority of Scottish seats at the two subsequent Westminster General Elections and also winning the Scottish Parliament election in May, a second referendum on Scotland's constitutional future will give us the opportunity to be part of that European Union again, part of the world's largest single market, and with something denied to us in this present Union, a guarantee which Ireland had in the Brexit negotiations; the right of veto.

Scotland can be part of Europe, and we can also remain as a Commonwealth country in a thriving social union with the rest of the UK; all we need is the self-belief and the self-confidence to make it happen.

Ruth Marr, Stirling.

WE CAN BETTER THE STATUS QUO

BILL Brown fails to appreciate that Scotland is not small but is the average size of the EU member nations.

Because of the centralising of power in London, the UK is too big to develop an economic strategy that suits all of the different nations in the UK, too big to be fully transparently democratic and thus prevent the sleaze and waste at the heart of Boris Johnson’s Government, and too arrogant to accept the end of empire and its reduced place in the world.

Out of the EU, an isolated UK is too small on its own to tackle global problems of extreme weather events, terrorism, organised crime, drugs, population movement or disease.

An independent Scotland can do much better than the status quo and emulate our more successful Scandinavian neighbours of a similar size as we have all the natural resources and a highly educated population to become a wealthier and more equal nation. We just need the confidence to grasp the opportunity.

Fraser Grant, Edinburgh.

* BILL Brown's visceral dislike of the SNP has caused a red mist to cloud a number of his letters in recent years. I hope he, like me, is on good terms with many of his neighbours in Milngavie and feels no antipathy towards them, but I would like to know how he would feel about being a member of a "union" which gave one of them control of his home as well as their own.

Willie Maclean, Milngavie.

PCR TESTS NOT A GOOD GUIDE

YOU state that there have been 5,952,765 UK Covid cases ("Daily update", The Herald, August 5). We often hear that PCR tests are the gold standard for detecting coronavirus. However, there is evidence to question this.

Groups that promote PCR include the NHS who say: "The PCR test looks for evidence that the virus is currently in your body, by detecting the presence of its RNA.” But the US FDA adds the caveat that “positive results do not rule out bacterial infection or co-infection with other viruses”.

But most telling of all is a 2016 study led by Luisa Barzon which observed a male patient who had been infected by Zika virus. Zika in semen can be infectious up to day 24 following symptom onset, but this study found RNA at day 181.

And on July 21 the US CDC (Centres for Disease Control) issued a Lab Alert instructing clinical labs to stop using PCR by December 31 and to find an alternative.

How many positive PCR test results are just asymptomatic people who are carrying RNA but are past the infectious stage?

Geoff Moore, Alness.

INSANITY OF THE NEW RULES

WITH the new Level 0 (minus 1) announced by Nicola Sturgeon, we have the farcical situation where an 18-year-old at school couldn’t attend a school disco as they are still not permitted, but this same 18-year-old could however go to a nightclub and would not need to wear a mask while dancing.

This is a sign of the insanity of the new regulations.

Jane Lax, Aberlour.

HELP WITH COVID DOCUMENTS

I NOTE the predicament in which Glasgow resident Paola Rizzato, currently finds herself ("‘My crazy bureaucratic nightmare over missing vaccine certificate’", The Herald, August 5). Having gone through a not-dissimilar problem, having had my Covid jabs arranged by the doctor's practice I attend, I was advised and given my Community Health Index number by a member of the staff, which I then quoted to the issuing department for Covid certificates.

This action was successful and I subsequently received the necessary documents. I hope this might be helpful.

Mike Dooley, Ayr.

MEDIOCRITY OF THE QUANGOS

COULD someone somewhere please answer the following:

1) Why do the Scottish Government, local councils and quangos all respond to emails with an automated reply indicating “we hope to answer within 10 working days"?

2) How can Glasgow University, an extremely busy educational establishment, reply to an email in five minutes and within 30 minutes supply the relevant information to permit proceeding to the next phase of an enquiry?

3) Why do we tolerate, in an age of instant communication, such mediocrity from organisations (as at 1 above) who are supposed to serve and service our communities?

Dan Edgar, Rothesay.

Read more: Why does Scotland lack the confidence to stay in the Union?