I’M no expert on these matters and my letters always come from the ordinary guy on the street, but surely Alister “Union” Jack has got it wrong by stating that commercial travel to Northern Ireland from Cairnryan is a matter for Scotland?

The problem, very much similar to that of the south east of England, is insufficient infrastructure to deal with the distribution of goods to Northern Ireland from from the UK, meaning not just Scotland. I have travelled along the route from Scotland to the Cairnryan ferry port and can imagine a backlog of goods lorries along what is quite a narrow road in parts.

This is a Brexit problem of which the whole world, by now, knows that Scotland never voted for. It is a Westminster problem Mr Jack, not a Scottish problem. You and your party engineered this and it looks like your No Deal Brexit is coming to fruition. So now you have to accept the obviously unseen consequences.

Let’s see now: there is the unforeseen infrastructure road and parking problems at both ends of your United Kingdom’s ferry ports. You have insufficient paperwork arrangements to attend the movement of goods overseas. Within the four United Kingdom countries there is current employment problems not anticipated by Whitehall due to the coronavirus which, it appears, will be exasperated by Brexit with or without an agreement. The risk of the Westminster Government agreeing to imported chemical infected food from the United States, and shortage of food in general – the list is endless.

And why is this, Mr Jack? Because your party wants nothing more to do with the European Union. A group of many countries, not just four, which runs it’s democratically elected parliament, has the wherewithal to bail out smaller country members as and when, while maintaining a full democratic participation on decisions that affect all member countries.

The ball is certainly in your court Mr Jack, not in ours.

Alan Magnus-Bennett

Fife

IT is ironic that the UK Government in Scotland, also known as our colonial masters, continues to fund our only pro-independence newspaper by placing their “All Together” two-page advertisements. These highlight all the wonderful things that the UK Government is doing in Scotland, while never mentioning they are doing it with our money.

It is hard to imagine any Road To Damascus conversions from their efforts!

Apart from this, the daily drip in the mainstream media of subtle and not-so-subtle attacks on the Scottish Government – and the refusal to supply context from the rest of UK when Scotland is performing better – continues. We now also have the Scottish Tories launching a nationwide leaflet campaign on behalf of their new branch office manager(s?).

Yet strangely, if we ever mention “independence” or “self-determination”, the howl of outrage goes up: “In the middle of a pandemic?!”

One rule for them. The pandemic and Brexit have brutally exposed the chasm between the Scottish and UK/English governments’ mindsets and objectives. Delivery of indyref2 and independence becomes more urgent by the day.

Dr Ron Dickinson

Glasgow

ALMOST daily we hear from Tory MPs and ministers about how important it is to stop the furlough scheme and get people back to work. Even the Chancellor thinks that artists and musicians should retrain because there is no demand for their chosen profession during this pandemic which has been so badly handled by Boris Johnson and his Government.

Thousands of jobs are due to be lost due to the lack of support from the UK Government and even more are threatened when Brexit crashes the economy.

So why on earth does the UK Government think this is the right time to give MPs a pay rise of over £3000?

If this goes ahead it will be a slap in the face for everyone, from NHS staff and all of our key workers, to everyone still fortunate to hold onto a job, never mind those who will now be queuing up for Universal Credit.

This Tory Government is completely out of touch with reality.

Councillor Natalie Don

Renfrewshire

I HAVE been a bit dismayed that there has been very little reporting of the Internal Market Bill in the media, even the Union-supporting media.

However, it also amazes me that the Yes movement is not going ballistic about it. To my mind, two things need to happen now.

Firstly, as soon as it is on the statute books, the Scottish Government needs to immediately commence legal action against it as it breaks the Scottish devolution settlement, which was voted for by over 72% of us. This in turn will cause the mainstream media to report it more as the court case develops, giving it visibility to many.

Secondly, the Yes movement must communicate to everyone we can get hold of about the attack on Holyrood. It should be remembered not all supporters of independence are against Holyrood.

We need to wake up and act against this threat to our democracy.

Robert Anderson

Perthshire

Phew, we’re saved! Our feeble Scotch memories are unable to remember five items, so thank goodness Boris has come to save us with his hands face space. How does it go again?

First you wash your hands and face, then blast off to outer space.

Simples!

Derek Ball

Bearsden