FOR two weeks I have enjoyed the welcome respite of not having to put up with the invariably crabbit Ruth Davidson searching like a lurcher in the dark to get a smidgeon of the reflected limelight that surrounds the First Minister.

If I’m honest, deep down I had suspicions ... well, really I kind of knew it was too good to last. Now I say help me and mine as it’s all gone diabasticle! Is it just that Ruth is back too soon or has she just never really been away?

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Media reports suggest that the pesky DRoss needs strategic reinforcement – some are even suggesting he is to be subbed. He talks about being the leader of his strong team. Huh, it’s not even half time in the election and he’s got problems wi’ his boots – he can’t fill the ones he’s been given and in spite of great exhortations he’s also having trouble keeping his socks pulled up. Aye weel, as the old saying goes pick the runt of the litter and you’ll always regret it.

“Now or never”, the call has gone out from Tory HQ. They bark in staccato anguish – quick, no panic, change the colours of the leaflets; quicker, get a playlist together, reprise Lord Forsyth and the two Mundells’ greatest hits; remember to include the feature on Baroness Goldie in her garden and somebody please send out for more Easter eggs to keep Boris happily occupied in Number 10. If he asks for more, tell him they’ve all been bought out in Scotland – he’ll understand that.

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Meanwhile the peace and tranquillity of my abode has been disturbed because my cherished hope and expectation was that Ruth would enjoy a hard-earned holiday. I wished for her to be rested before being formally admitted to the Lords, picking up her expenses claim forms, meeting some new chums and enjoying all sorts of settling-in experiences before repairing to Scotland to follow the orders in her special mission. I expected Ruth to take time bulling up her tackety boots in readiness for her new special mission in her new big office, maybe in the splendid new Queen Elizabeth House. Her mission? In Scotland it might just be to give effect to her oft-quoted phrase about the need to “put the boot in” to supporters of independence. Ouch!

Ruth failed to democratically achieve her stated aim of occupying the office of First Minister in Holyrood. However, she might just have plans to land herself an even bigger office in the middle of Edinburgh as she may have come to realise that, like Boris Johnson, one can get one’s own way by fair means or foul.

Anne Thomson
Falkirk

ONCE more we have a double page spread with banner headlines extolling the virtues of both votes for SNP. This time by an SNP candidate, Richard Walker (This is why Both Votes SNP is the best way to ensure independence). Would it be fair and helpful to have an article with equal space and headlines given to Lorna Slater from the Scottish Greens explaining why we should vote for the Green party on the list vote?

Also, as this is a subject that fills so much space in the letters pages, could this paper support the improvement of our Holyrood electoral system by moving to a Single Transferable Vote system? This is much fairer because there are no wasted votes, all votes count and this issue can be put to bed forever.

The National has a duty to clear a way through the fog of tedium and confusion and not leave it to letter writers to argue the case for a better use of the second vote than wasting it on the SNP. Thankfully, very many believe that getting a pro-indy majority of MSPs will be far more radical and urgent than an overall SNP majority, and that is what we need and I think we will get.

Tony Martin
Gullane, East Lothian

KEVIN McKenna recently declared he could be a bit of a runt (to put it more mildly than he did), a confession the readership no doubt found amusing and modestly honest in one who likes to get stuck into his targets.

However his disclosure in Wednesday’s piece that he once worked for the Daily Mail gives us pause for thought. Gosh, the Daily Mail! We all cast shadows in passing through this veil of tears, but some of these shadows are more opaque than others.

Nor does Kevin try to make light of this dark revelation, quite the reverse: he recalls a Labour FM who once berated him for being part of such a rag, “a poisonous and evil presence that contaminated the well of Scottish public life”.

Candour there in Kevin we must respect, and so too his readiness to attack those who are slow to offer redemption to Alex Salmond from self-confessed follies. Always entertaining, this correspondent.

John Melrose
Peebles

SNP/Alba in the north-east. To vote SNP/SNP in that region would be a betrayal of the independence movement. Mr Walker might be willing to wait for Nicola Sturgeon to descend from the mountain top with another promise of a possible referendum sometime in the future [as in never], but I am not.

Erskine Findlaech
via thenational.scot