Scotland on Sunday readers' letters: Boris Johnson has indispensable role in international alliance

The political commentariat has become a hothouse of ever growing outrage at the apparent failings of the Prime Minister and others in Downing Street, screaming for his instant resignation.

'Partygate' is probably a golden opportunity for Mr Johnson's opponents to finally take revenge for what they might see as his actual crime: Brexit. For Ms Sturgeon it will be his stonewalling on Scexit.

Two months ago this issue was solely about the UK. But like it or not, now Mr Johnson and his government have an indispensable role in an international alliance supporting Ukraine and, by implication, also safeguarding our security.

Yet his opponents maintain that his instant replacement and leadership upheaval won't harm the cause. One wonders whether Britain's partners see it the same way.

Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, leaves 10 Downing Street to attend Prime Ministers Questions at the House of Parliament on April 20. (Photo by Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

Of course there should be a reckoning for everyone who has broken Covid laws, including the PM. Inevitably, his reckoning will come at the next elections. There is a fair chance that voters will gift Mr Johnson's enemies with the revenge they crave which, as the old adage goes, is best served cold.

Regina Erich, Stonehaven

Fix the date

Neil Barber (Letters, April 17) is entitled to his disbelief, but what he or the State is not entitled to is to fix the date of religious festivals such as Easter. The date of Easter was determined many centuries ago. It is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.

Colin McAllister, St Andrews

Free to choose

Neil Barber of Edinburgh Secular Society argues for a fixed yearly Easter holiday date as opposed to a fluctuating one resting on lunar cycle calculations.

Saint Paul teaches: "If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

We can do this 365 days in each year, so how we calculate the Easter celebration date is surely of secondary importance. One Solitary Life fulfils the short prophecy of Isaiah 53 and we are free to reflect upon this miracle (or choose to deny it) any day of the year.

JT Hardy, Belfast

Fatal flaw

Is there any doubt, anywhere, in the mind of any thinking person, that the First Minister of Scotland’s decision-making on masks, as well as much else throughout the Covid 19 pandemic, was governed essentially by the prime wish to be different from England and the rest of the UK. Scientific evidence and advice came a distant second from being seen as unique and ‘Scottish’.

Exactly the same method and results will follow on from the SNP administration’s decision to hold the Census a year after the rest of the others occupying this relatively small island. It just had to be uniquely, somehow, anyhow, more ‘Scottish’. Therein lies, I’m afraid, the fatal flaw of nationalism.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh

The correct time

In her article on The Leighton Library, 17th April, Alison Campsie refers to "...Oliver Cromwell's Killing Times". Cromwell died in 1658. The state-sanctioned persecution of Presbyterian Covenanters in Scotland, known as The Killing Time, occurred in the 1680s under the Stewart monarchs Charles II and James VII/II.

John Gordon, Kilsyth

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