Readers' Letters: Nothing to see here in Sturgeon's WhatsApps

Well, now we have the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Nicola Sturgeon was not a member of any WhatsApp groups – apart from a very small number, the use of which was extremely limited.

Nicola Sturgeon didn't use WhatsApp to talk politics... except when she did (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)

Nor did she ever use these WhatsApp groups to discuss matters relating to decision-making – except maybe, for example, if she hadn't had a good night's sleep.

Nor did the issue of independence ever enter her head during the years when the pandemic, lest we forget, was advancing at an alarming rate – except maybe on the odd occasion when, for instance, she was provoked by a UK politician.

Anyway, all the information the Covid Inquiry needs to see in relation to the decision-making process is contained in the minutes of the Cabinet which are detailed, full and accurate – unless they contain entries stating that a pandemic issue was to be discussed under “any other competent business” or pointing to agreements that consideration was to be given to restarting the case for independence in light of the experience of the pandemic.

So even if the documentation available to the Inquiry may raise the suspicion that there is something to see here, there is nothing to suggest that any extraneous issues had any bearing whatsoever on the Scottish Government's handling of the Covid crisis.

When Ms Sturgeon promised publicly to hand over all communications including WhatsApp chats when she knew she had already deleted a number of them she was in political mode and may have slightly misrepresented her position. But now when she professes that nothing was further from her mind than independence and that her entire focus was only on keeping us all safe, surely we can take her word for it.

Colin Hamilton, Edinburgh

Time for tears

What were Nicola Sturgeon's tears about at the Covid Inquiry? Scotland's Covid deaths? Or for herself? Is Alister Jack's scepticism warranted? Sturgeon, who had once almost achieved celebrity status, was heckled and booed as she arrived at and left the inquiry. There are accusations of lack of transparency, politicising the pandemic, and habitual cronyism that even SNP spin can't make disappear. No demands for selfies now.

Journalists used to discuss which significant UN body she'd head up after stepping down as First Minister, but no longer. With uncomfortable truths emerging about her attitude to openness and truth-telling, her managerial style, and, let's be frank, her personality, she was surely weeping for herself, her lost career and uncomfortable future.

Martin Redfern, Melrose, Roxburghshire

Playing politics

“Teflon Nicola” Sturgeon seems to have come out of the Covid Inquiry not too badly, at least in terms of having used the pandemic for party purposes. However, some of us have long memories.

The last Holyrood elections, in 2021, coincided with the epidemic, during which Nicola asked us not to judge the SNP on the constitution but on their competence on handling the disease. The SNP did well, then two days after polling day, Nicola claimed that the good result was a mandate for constitutional change. She was playing politics!

William Ballantine, Bo'ness, West Lothian

Get over it

Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing? Couldn't we all have done better in the past if only we had had more knowledge at the time? Could Nicola Sturgeon have done better? I don't think so. She did the best she could with the information she had at the time. Would fewer people have died if she had shut the country down a month earlier? Maybe, but how was she supposed to know that? She didn't have a crystal ball. Faced with a terrible health crisis, I believe she did the best she could in very difficult circumstances. Could anyone have done better? I doubt it.

Anyway, it's all done and dusted. Get over it!

Hilary J Cameron, Culloden, Highland

Insult to democracy

If it wasn't so serious, it would be quite amusing to imagine First Minister Humza Yousaf dashing around on his scooter trying to find the minutes of the Gold Command meetings held during the pandemic to submit to the Covid Inquiry.

However, everything points to any minutes of these "elite clique” meetings being non-existent, with Mr Yousaf having more chance of finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow than such crucial records. It's utterly disgraceful and an affront to democracy that no public record of the critical decisions supposedly made at these high-level government meetings was kept and available for scrutiny.

Bob MacDougall, Kippen, Stirlingshire

One-eyed Jack

The UK Covid Inquiry certainly had for a wee while the attention of Scotland as it came to town. But, there were some glaring anomalies and politicians who were nothing short of offensive in their evidence.

Many in Government through the pandemic were called to give evidence and were questioned for hours: the previous first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, was questioned for approximately five hours, the then Health Secretary Jeane Freeman was questioned for 2.5 hours – quite extensive, I would suggest, and very emotional for those concerned to be reliving the pandemic.

During the pandemic, those of us living in Scotland were kept up to date as Ms Sturgeon, along with members of the Cabinet and health experts, gave the country daily updates. It must have been taxing for all concerned to face the country each day.

But the offensive comments came from the Conservative Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack who, incidentally, was only questioned under oath for one hour, 20 minutes.

Despite the global emergency the Scottish Government were dealing with, Mr Jack made the derogatory statement regarding Ms Sturgeon’s emotional appearance at the Inquiry, saying he thought Ms Sturgeon could cry from one eye! For the Secretary of State for Scotland to be making such derogatory comments, one can only assume the behaviour of his Conservative Colleagues in Westminster during the pandemic is rubbing off.

And incidentally, Mr Jack deleted all his Covid-related WhatsApp messages!

Catriona C Clark, Banknock, Falkirk

Cut the Fringe

Edinburgh councillor Scott Arthur wants the city to meet its climate obligations. He states that there is a “moral duty” to do so. To this end he has proposed several Draconian methods of cutting car drivers out of the city. This will obviously impinge on the freedoms of the vast majority, not only in the city and its surrounds but for any Scot wanting to drive to Edinburgh for whatever reason.

If Cllr Arthur is so worried about the climate then why does he not simply suggest banning the Edinburgh festivals? At a stroke, worldwide travellers will be put off and the resultant desired lack of pollution will follow. It is a stark choice, visitors versus locals or, of course, the entire plan could be kicked into the long grass instead. No one wants planetary destruction but destroying the city's lifeblood ought not to be the way.

Gerald Edwards, Glasgow

What a mess

Considering that the British established the Palestinian state in 1948 (with the reluctant backing of the French) it does seem a little strange that our government is only now considering whether or not to recognise Palestine as a state.

It wasn’t an unalloyed success even then, the then First Lord of the Admiralty, Duff Cooper, wrote in his diary in May 1948, “What a fearful muddle we have made in Palestine”.

And some ten years later the then current Israeli Minister of Defence, Moshe Dayan, when standing on the border of Palestine, said, “What can we say against their terrible hatred of us. For eight years now they have sat in the refugee camps in Gaza and watched how we have turned their land and villages where they and their forefathers previously dwelt, into our home.”

Were Cooper still alive today he might have used a stronger word than “muddle”.

Rosemary McDougall, Fala Village, Edinburgh

Timely reminder

Contrary to doomsaying Labour MSP Jackie Baillie’s regular Scotsman rants about everything being the SNP’s fault, it isn’t commonplace in the Scottish NHS for appointments to be cancelled. As a Long Covid survivor I have navigated the choppy waters of the NHS appointments system for over four years. I've had 16 visits to the GP, three MRI scans, two CT scans, one endoscopy, one colonoscopy and a partridge in a pear tree. None of these appointments have been cancelled or even rescheduled. My experience of these appointments has been hugely positive despite my suffering from anxiety.

Jackie talks about chaos and broken promises and every week she trots out the the same tired old schtick that the SNP is to blame. I half expected her to announce that the escaped monkey from a Highland wildlife park had been caught deleting WhatsApps.Yesterday, I attended Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy for an MRI scan at 7.20pm and at 7.33pm I was on my way home.

Yes, some of the staff looked ready for the end of their shift and I can empathise, although it doesn’t help morale when an opposition spokesperson for health continues to put the knife into an amazing institution.

David Cruickshanks, Strathmiglo, Fife

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