THERE can be no greater evidence of how low the Conservatives have sunk than the support their MEPs have given to the authoritarian government of Viktor Orban in a crunch vote in the European Parliament.

In a desperate attempt to deliver allies in the Brexit negotiations, almost all of the politicians representing Theresa May’s party voted against a motion to censure the Hungarian leader, which in the end was overwhelmingly passed.

Their support for the right-wing leader – accused of violating press freedoms, undermining judicial independence and waging an anti-Semitic campaign against Jewish businessman George Soros, as well as describing refugees as “Muslim invaders” – beggars belief.

Mr Orban’s government is also subject to allegations of corruption relating to the alleged misspending of EU funds by his friends and family.

Politicians from across the EU voted by a two-thirds majority in favour of starting the Article 7 process, which could ultimately see Hungary stripped of its voting rights at the European Council.

It is absolutely shocking that the Conservative MEPs voted against that motion, but as the party lurches to the right and desperately scrambles for allies in the Brexit negotiations, it should come as no real surprise and what we have ultimately come to expect.

Alex Orr
Edinburgh

READ MORE: Tories in Brexit bigotry row after backing far-right in key EU vote​

NOO yon wis ae richt cantie airticle screivit by Antonia Uri in Scots anent nurses an nurses’ trainin, but I maun tak tent o some o fit she sayed (Scotland’s NHS is desperate for fresh bluid tae be pumped intil it, September 13).

Trei thoosand seive hunner an twanty fower “nurses” sittin on thair dowps in collegial classes are nae nurses. Nae amoun o haunlin plestic dummies maks up fur the rael thing. Plastic dummies dinnae wheenge an greet, thay dinnae spew, bleed, pish the bed or waur! Thay dinnae dei on you either. Ane o thay plastic nurses, “fully trained”, cam on the ward o a frein o mine, ae richt trained nurse. Fan telt tae tak a patient’s pulse, the plastic ane replied: “Where’s the machine?” “You have a watch and a finger – learn to use them” was the swift repone.

You’re walkin doun the High Street, somebiddie collapses in front o you, whaur is the machine tae assess fit’s adae wi thaim? Nurses trained on the ward frae dey ane, kent waein a fornicht gin thay haed the makins o it or wir mair worried anent thair fauncy nail polish.

Ma sister, nurse o the auld skule, wis a cliver wumen.Trei year in a university wuid hae duin nocht for her, but in the ward she wis ane o the best. Ae dey she cam on a caur crash on ae quaet heilan road. Ane deid, ane wi a severed airtirie an anither twa wi lesser injuries. She tuik chairge o the situation, by the time the ambulance arrived the wounded wir dressed an ready. She wis in her finery on the wey tae a waddin, but ae nurse is ae nurse twanty fower, seiven. Wuid ane o thay plastic nurses hae managed that situation?

After threi years thay come oot “fully trained” wi a degree, syne thay hae tae larn the actual darg o nursin. Gin thay haed larnt in the ward, thay wuid hae been nursin frae dey ane. The nurses we recruit frae abroad, hoo are thay trained? In a ward. Gin oor nurses wir trained in the ward thay wuid earn thair siller, an we wuid aa be the better for it.

George T Watt
Arbroath

READ MORE: Scotland’s NHS is desperate for fresh bluid tae be pumped intil it​

FOLLOWING on from Jacob Rees-Mogg’s entirely unsubstantiated claim that we would be £80 billion better off after a hard Brexit, we now have Boris Johnson, in his pitch for the Tory party leadership, claiming that reducing taxes and tax thresholds and increasing the threshold for stamp duty would actually increase government revenues.

Maybe they taught him a different kind of mathematics where he went to school, but surely this would reduce government income. We have not been told where any compensating increases are going to come from. Thin air? Or maybe the magic money tree that his party have been saying doesn’t exist.

If Mr Johnson were to win any leadership contest, it would clearly show that the ringmaster, Mrs May, is no longer in charge and the clowns have finally taken over the circus.

Pete Rowberry
Duns

PLEASE can you limit pictures of Rees-Mogg in in our paper? It is a stain on a quality product. If you have to use images of the high Tories can you use cartoon images to be at least entertaining? I hate seeing his pictures and all he and his ilk stand for.

Please spare us, and let’s look forward to an electoral system which will see them off forever.

Tony Martin
Gullane

I ENJOYED very much the first edition of the Sunday National, especially the Seven Days bit.

The piece by Stuart Cosgrove (That Hitler meme: how the face of evil came to pop up on our timelines, September 9), was great and provoked considerable discussion and subsequent research by his use of the term “everyday fascism”.

My 14-year-old granddaughter asked for explanation and examples and I struggled to deal with her question adequately.

I went to the internet and did the usual search for definitions. But these were insubstantial. I then came across 14 defining characteristics of fascism with practical examples.

I was gobsmacked to be able to tick off all of these as they relate to the practices of the Tory administration at Westminster – racist, misogynistic and discrimination against any other group that does not cluster around the white supremacy grouping. From detention centres to torture to external threats, each practical example could easily be applied.

Obviously the mainstream media is not going to deal with this, and maybe Stuart should call it out.

Tony Hartie
Airdrie

READ MORE: That Hitler meme: how the face of evil came to pop up on our timelines​