How though to punish them? We all know fines won’t work, we all know the police will do nothing about racism and sectarian singing at games so they clearly will not bother about pyrotechnics.

No, only one punishment will work quickly and be very effective. The SPFL, and UEFA for that matter, should bring in a new rule. If a club’s fans bring pyrotechnics into a ground or if flares are thrown on to the pitch (as happened at the St Johnstone v Kilmarnock game) then the game must be stopped and suspended by the referee and the match awarded to the opposite team with a scorline of 2-0 against the club of the offending fans.

That would mean this past midweek that Kilmarnock and Dundee would have been awarded three points each. That will stop this frankly dangerous and irresponsible behaviour and save us from potentially another Bradford in the future.

Rangers fans light up the Bob Shankly stand with pyro during Wednesday's match against Dundee at Dens Park (Picture: Rob Casey / SNS Group)

Alexander Lunn, Edinburgh

Look over there!

You have to hand it to Jill Stephenson! She has a go at Alba (Letters, 2 November), disputing my eyewitness account of events, then in another Scottish major paper of note goes after Kate Forbes saving her WhatApp messages and speculating on her leadership ambitions.

You’d almost think she was trying to divert attention from the two major British nationalist parties, one which has tanked the economy and behaved scandalously giving contracts to cronies during a national crisis and the other, offering more of the same taking money from big corporations and trying to appear economically tough, showing a complete absence of understanding how an economy functions (or not in their case).

Then of course there is their staunch backing for the ongoing slaughter of thousands of people in Gaza.

I really can’t figure out why Ms Stephenson wouldn’t want to live in an independent Scotland where people would be warm enough and have enough to eat and like Ireland were free to take a stance in favour of humanity in the international arena.

Marjorie Ellis Thompson, Edinburgh

Aid to Gaza

When our First Minister isn’t moaning about the “Tory-inspired cost-of-living crisis” he is handing out hundreds of thousands of pounds to Gaza (Scotsman, 3 November).

Would he like to say which other war-torn countries are getting regular donations from the SNP? Charity begins at home… doesn’t it?

Bruce A Proctor, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire

Interest rates

The Bank of England is hol ding the base interest rate steady at 5.25 per cent (Scotsman, 3 November). This is no surprise since mini-me UK follows the US Fed’s lead.

But hold off on the Champagne. The Bank’s successive interest rate hikes haven’t cooled inflation as Andrew Bailey claimed they would. That’s because inflation wasn’t ignited by excess consumer demand, but by energy, food and commodity price volatility which is outside the influence of monetary policy.

Instead, the Bank’s interest rate policies have engineered a recession. Credit has become costlier and harder to get, businesses and consumers are spending less, demand for goods and services has tanked, investment has shrivelled and joblessness has risen.

What the Bank should have announced is a rate cut as well as an end to its policy of quantitative tightening, which is only making matters worse by raising market rates further, compounding the misery for households and businesses.

And the UK Government should increase public sector pay to compensate for inflation losses and increase taxes on wealth, currently undertaxed by £170 billion per year. A government that taxes income at 33 per cent but increases in wealth at just 4.1 per cent shows where its priorities lie. The impoverishment of the UK is proceeding as planned, as the wealthy establishment elites become ever richer. When will Scotland summon the nerve to walk away from this disastrous Union?

Leah Gunn Barrett, Edinburgh

Do the maths

Humza Yousaf keeps telling us with great pride that his government has sent 14,000 WhatsApp messages to the Covid Inquiry.

The Covid pandemic lasted more than two years and at least 70 ministers and staff, if not quite a few more, were involved.

It doesn't take much maths to see that few of these WhatsApp messages have been saved if only 14,000 remain.

If it really was a minor means of communication then Mr Yousaf would be at pains to say so. He didn’t, therefore it wasn’t. A huge problem is about to engulf the SNP/Green alliance and they don’t appear to see it coming.

Gerald Edwards, Glasgow

Labour and Covid

Examining what governments did in addressing the Covid pandemic is far more important than asking any individual if they ever deleted a WhatsApp message. The furore is beginning to sound a bit like the witch hunt for Communists during the McCarthy trials in America.

With the benefit of hindsight, all governments made mistakes but only Labour in Wales has refused to hold a Covid inquiry. The Welsh FM Mark Drakeford is under pressure as the scrutiny over the release of WhatsApp messages has not been applied in Wales due to the UK Inquiry not examining the minutiae on how Covid was handled in Wales.

Anas Sarwar was guilty of rewriting history when he told Channel Four that he spoke out about discharging patients into care homes in March and April 2020. This was immediately proved to be false by Ciaran Jenkins, who also corrected claims that Scotland had the worst record in Europe by pointing out that a Stirling University study showed that excess deaths in care homes were higher in England and Labour-run Wales

Lord Foulkes and Dame Jackie Baillie put pressure on the BBC Scotland to stop Nicola Sturgeon’s daily Covid briefings, which included the media asking searching questions. The briefings were only resumed when BBC Scotland allowed Labour and Tory spokespeople to immediately respond and often contradict the Covid messaging.

The UK Covid inquiry heard that in the early days of the pandemic the UK Government ignored representations from the devolved administrations over messaging which led to public confusion. As did some of the BBC’s coverage, which should also be examined.

Mary Thomas, Edinburgh

Kicking game

I’m sorry to hear of Scotland rugby player Huw Jones’s injured toe (Scotsman, 3 November). I wish him well.

My earliest rugby memory is of being taken to Murayfield by my grandfather in 1950 to see Scotland beat England. The winning penalty was kicked by my namesake, Tom Gray. It was reported that he had lost part of his foot in the war and had to have a special boot prepared to enable him to play – and kick. If I’ve got these facts wrong, no doubt someone will correct me. It was a long time ago.

Michael Grey, Edinburgh

Busted flush

Recent letters have been exploring what the Alba party is for and how successful it is. In my opinion, Alex Salmond set it up with three objectives. Firstly, as an ego trip, because he was unwilling to relinquish all power and influence over the Scottish political scene. Secondly, to exact revenge over his erstwhile colleagues, because he considered they had betrayed him. And thirdly, to replace the SNP as the party most able to obtain independence.

He has succeeded in his first objective and, at least to a degree, in the second. However, he is failing dismally in the third, partly because Scotland has no room for two separate independence parties and partly because his timing was poor. The Scottish public, following the Brexit disaster, is now more aware of the need to weigh up the possible political and economic consequences before taking a major, irreversible constitutional decision and this is reflected in recent polls. The Alba party is little more than a busted flush.

Barry Hughes, Edinburgh

Spam, Spam, Spam

The trouble with the call blocker Steuart Campbell describes (Letters, 2 November) is that it as useful as a chocolate radiator in the real world.

As one of our neighbours discovered the hard way, those on the list – especially near family – give up in disgust rather than waiting to see if mumsie will answer at all, after her Dalek secretary has added an extra two minutes on to their call before putting them on hold listening to a tortuous Muzak rendition of Spring from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

Most spam callers work off mass diallers: manually block each number in turn and eventually your number becomes blacklisted within that spammer as costing them money. I should know, having seen this practice in action when I worked for a funeral plan firm until tighter regulations against UK-based companies stopped them.

But the easiest way to avoid them is never buy from catalogue firms or enter too-good-to-be true competition draws, who merrily sell on your contact details without caring a hoot about unenforceable Data Protection Laws.

Mark Boyle, Johnstone, Renfrewshire

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Readers' letters: Dock points to stamp out football fans' pyrotechnics craze