Sir, — I thought The P&J had started going in for science fiction with Kirstin Innes’ comments that the country was being run by “incompetent, corrupt locusts… whose callousness and cruelty is taken as read… and who are asset-stripping the UK unchallenged”, but it was only the ravings of another disgruntled nationalist (and successful novelist — she’s world famous in Leith!).
Ms Innes would find out what asset-stripping really means if we ever get an independent Scotland and it tries to handle its £36billion annual deficit with a coalition of neo-Marxist Greens and SNP fruitcakes.
She adds how “inhumane” the UK Government is in its steps to reduce the migrant numbers crossing the Channel, conveniently forgetting it has recently offered citizenship to nearly three million Hong Kong Chinese in one of the finest actions in defence of human rights since the Second World War.
But if things are really so bad here, perhaps Ms Innes should head across to Calais and inform these hapless migrants, so desperate to leave her beloved EU, what a terrible place the UK is. She might solve the migrant crisis overnight.
Morris Kay, Lochview Place, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen.
Downing St parties convenient excuse
Sir — Following the emergence of the Omicron variant and new restrictions that will be introduced to contain the spread of virus, an opinion poll in a national newspaper suggested that an increasing number of those polled were unlikely to follow the new advice due to the ongoing revelations of parties/gatherings at No 10 last December that, according to “sources”, were held with disregard to the government’s own lockdown rules.
So those unlikely to follow new advice are willing to increase their chances of exposure to infection that may result in illness requiring hospitalisation and, in the worst scenario, death, as well as spreading infection amongst their nearest and dearest. Do they still feel they are winners?
Protection of an individual’s health is in their own hands and should not be influenced by perceived indiscretions of others.
Sadly, many disregarding new restrictions would have done so anyhow without the convenient excuse of possible Downing Street misbehaviour.
Ivan W Reid, Kirkburn, Laurencekirk, Aberdeenshire.
We need clarity on Omicron
Sir, — Why are we constantly being told about how infectious Omicron is and how many people are testing positive — but no one ever tells us how severe the symptoms are?
From South African intelligence and the lack of hospital admissions here, it would seem to me the symptoms are no worse than the common cold (also a coronavirus) with which we are all familiar — some people avoid it, some suffer unpleasantness, some become debilitated with bronchitis, some go on to have pneumonia and some die.
Until the government is frank with us about this new mutation, it cannot justify reintroducing restrictions.
Iris Clyde, Voresheed, Kirkwall, Orkney.
Deny anti-vaxxers care from NHS
Sir, — It seems to me the reason that Nicola Sturgeon is working up to another Christmas lockdown is more to do with protecting her incompetently run NHS rather than protecting the population of Scotland.
Rather than put the hospitality industry under more pressure by limiting what the public can do, why does she not go for the obvious option to penalise every person that chooses not to be vaccinated by denying them the right to be treated by the NHS should they fall prey to Covid?
Andrew Dingwall-Fordyce, Garlogie House, Westhill, Aberdeenshire.