FOR the first few editions of the newborn National, the front pages were a bold statement of the positive, creative Scotland we know it can be. Each day saw a richly beautiful artwork, a relief to the eye in the midst of the many other tabloids with their lurid headlines. It drew the casual browser of the news-stands into closer examination of what lay beyond its front page.

Consistently, every edition since then has never failed to contain many cogent, informative, thoughtful, well-written, well-researched articles, and its letters pages respond in like. Not long after the first few weeks, The National moved away from that artwork to become yet another red-top front page. Lost on the news-stands to anyone except those of us actively seeking it out, I wrote to the editor asking why the change. He replied that reader demand had requested it.

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On Tuesday, as usual, I perused the front pages on the news-stand. I couldn’t suppress a smile at the desperation of the Scottish Daily Mail. They really are struggling with how to respond to the obvious success thus far of Nicola Sturgeon’s steady hand at the helm during the pandemic. That smile turned to a shake of the head in despair as I picked up my copy of The National and saw the latest OTT banner headline (Maskless Mundell out shopping sparks fury). Indeed, I began to wonder if there is a Daily Mail mole working for The National.

I can mouth off about Mr Mundell like the best of them, but on Tuesday I felt sympathy for him. He is a human being, and Nicola Sturgeon’s advice about face coverings for shops is wear them if the shop is busy. A wee village toffee shop is not a supermarket and the counter has its regulation screen. As for the fury? Reading the two quotes in the report beside the picture on page five, there is no trace of it. Rather, they are voicing their opinion without being spiteful towards the recipient.

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I know several people whose daily newspapers span The Herald, The Guardian, i, and The Times. They voted No in indyref1 and most voted Remain in the Brexit referendum. They are informed, thinking people who are beginning to show signs of questioning their stance on independence. If only they knew what gems of fine writing lie beyond the front pages of The National, they would find so much that resonates politically with their view of the world. They would certainly find much to help them towards putting their cross next to the Yes option for indyref2.

At a time when there is much debate and jockeying for positions, the last thing we need is for our one and only daily indy-supporting newspaper to be trying to outdo the red tops with their headlines.

I’m not suggesting you can or should return to the earliest front pages of artwork, but I do think rethink is needed on the wisdom of the current proclivity for the “in your face shock horror” type front pages that have become the norm.

Jennifer Rodger
West Kilbride

I AM fortunate to live in the Scottish Borders, Hawick “Queen o aw the Borders”. When I read that dunderhead Carlaw was complaining regarding the “consideration” of closing the Scottish Border I was truly amazed.

Hawick is 12 miles from the Carterbar border and 26 miles from the Canonbie border. I’m quite sure there is a border at both places as there are huge signs that say so, despite Mr Fluffy Mundell’s line, “there is no Border between Scotland and England”.

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We have seen the unfortunate lockdown of Leicester and we have sympathy with them. I wonder what Mr Carlaw’s and indeed Mr Mundell’s comments would be if it were Carlisle that had to go into lockdown (heaven forbid), and streams of day-trip buses were flooding into Dumfries and Moffat and the south of Scotland?

If it were Dumfries or Moffat that went into lockdown I’m sure Carlisle and the Lake District would welcome them with open cafes. AYE RIGHT.

Scotland, with its leadership, consultants and great response from the Scottish population, has made great strides in beating or at least containing this virus. Let’s hope it stays that way and that we do what we have to do to keep it in check.

Ken McCartney
Hawick

I AGREE with the criticism of the composition of the Scottish Government’s advisory group made by Michael Fry (FM’s astonishing omission over how we get economy back on its feet, June 30).

While not doubting their academic prowess, it seems that too much emphasis has been paced on it in some of the choices.

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Another criticism is that others have a similar background, ie they’re part of the “great and the good” of the establishment. The same folk who presided over the chaos of building the Scottish Parliament and the oversight of Edinburgh’s tram fiasco.

A wider net should have been cast, and up-and-coming people considered without set views or reputation to consider.

A radical appraisal of where we want to be in the near future should be the aim, not just how to ameliorate the coming problems.

Drew Reid
Falkirk