SO the financially strapped BBC flies out Laura Kuenssberg and a whole filming team to Spain to interview Michelle Mone and her husband and allow them to explain their situation on prime time TV.

They have learned a lot from the Tories. Nothing was their fault – it was the legal advice – and the money is not really theirs as it is in trusts for their families. Lawyers only give advice based on what their client tells them and people can dismiss their advice and think for themselves.

I have no doubt they are in a way scapegoats because there should be a long line of people connected to PPE scandals that should be in the courts. However, the BBC certainly has some questions to answer.

How is it the Deputy PM could not answer questions for legal reasons, but the BBC can ask questions and use public money to give Mone and her husband a platform to defend themselves?

Winifred McCartney

Paisley

WHAT a positively refreshing read Ruth Wishart’s Sunday National piece was, regarding the recent Pisa report, the state of Scottish education, and the good things attached to it in spite of the negative political flak being espoused by the usual pro-Union suspects.

Also, a special mention to Frances McKie, a retired educationalist, on her well-informed/qualified account in her recent letter covering the evolution of Scottish education and the mistakes/challenges that have gradually unfolded from the 1960s onward, while celebrating some positive aspects of the Curriculum for Excellence. Yes, there are some positive successes in that venture contrary to much of the negative political/press-media rancour covering this subject. As usual, the successful stuff not covered by the complicit Unionist media in Scotland – too positive, eh?!

The debatable issues on Scottish education are multi-stranded with so many stakeholders involved and touting their own agenda.

One of my own bugbears is the fact I’m well aware of many children (some of them very clever) who have been badly let down by a weak system of education.

That assertion is based on a knowledge of failed actions within the primary education network in Edinburgh, with many children and parents being badly let down by ill-conceived decisions and dithering by certain education officials (plus teachers and headteachers), trying to “move on a problem” instead of giving serious consideration to the educational needs of a vulnerable child.

Another debatable “strand” is the two-tier education system that endlessly attaches itself to the attainment gap debate ad nauseum – the political weaponisation of it is deplorable. Come to Edinburgh and observe this clear division – a “them and us” divide with an astounding 15% of kids in private education with wealthy parents who are well aware of the perceived future benefits for their offspring.

We must have equal opportunities and education for all our kids. This is non-negotiable in my humble opinion and I will continue to preach it with a passion until my final day on planet Earth.

Bernie Japs

Edinburgh

IT looks like the first result of the 2024 General Election has probably been decided. The SNP are putting up a candidate against nationalist Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil. At the 2019 election, Angus received 45% of the vote and Labour received 28%.

Given that all recent opinion polls have shown a swing across Scotland from the SNP to Labour, and the nationalist vote in the Western Isles will now be split in two, it looks that a lifelong nationalist could be replaced by a Labour Unionist.

Could someone from the SNP leadership perhaps please explain to us all how that will move the independence movement forward in any way, shape or form?

Glenda Burns

Glasgow

THE SNP never get it right these days. If they really wanted independence for Scotland they would accept that there is no way a split vote will win the Western Isles seat which is currently held by Angus McNeil, a long-term and vocal champion of Scottish independence. They should also hold out an olive branch to Alba, who have done the decent thing and will not contest the seat. It seems that tiny minority interests such as gender politics are more important to them these days than the great cause for which the SNP were established.

James Duncan

Edinburgh

DID the words of the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely in ruling out a two-state solution not confirm two things? First, the long-held intention to ethnically cleanse Gaza, and thereafter the West Bank, of all Palestinians. Secondly, that this was Netanyahu’s intention even before the Hamas atrocity.

From the start, I have been completely unable to believe that possibly the best secret service in the world was caught napping about the Hamas preparations.

I am certain they knew, as did Netanyahu, but did nothing, so that he would be provided with the best possible motive for an invasion to destroy or expel all Palestinians and go down in history as the Israeli leader who restored the territory to its rightful owners. Is this what he meant by “they are doing my work for me”, as he is reported to have said?

How long can our cowardly Westminster government go on closing their eyes to this fact? Every new shipment of weapons from the UK to Israel confirms Netanyahu’s belief that he is untouchable, that no-one in the West will stand up to him, for fear of being accused of antisemitism.

Once he has control of all Gaza and all Palestinians are either dead or expelled, who or what can then stop him from adding the West Bank to his conquest? If he is not stopped before he achieves his objective, I fear he will have lit the fuse for a Third World War.

Is there any way that our Holyrood government could at least ban any weapons from being exported from companies in Scotland, or would Westminster simply facilitate their passage via England? The majority of Scots want no part in this genocide.

L McGregor

Falkirk