Scotland on Sunday readers' letters: Politicans need to learn not to poke the Russian bear

The very dangerous situation that existed in the Ukraine about six weeks ago looks to be a bit safer now, at least for us in this country, if not for those poor people in the eastern part of Ukraine in particular and those fighting to keep the Russians at bay.

However, there is still a war going on, the situation is still unpredictable and people are dying. If we are not careful, something very bad could still happen.

At the moment, Nato and EU members have a unity and discipline of purpose, and given time, this will hopefully yield the results everyone is looking for. In this context, why do we have politicians and various other commentators spewing out inflammatory and bombastic rhetoric about Russia, drawing attention to themselves and giving Mr Putin much needed propaganda material? The other thing I cannot understand is why tell the Press precisely what type of weaponry we are sending and what training we are giving, as if that won’t be useful to Russian intelligence?

It is time that many of our politicians learned to keep their mouths shut and be a bit more discreet, and stop poking the bear! That is not going to help the situation, and if it does bite us, then we only have ourselves to blame.

Ukrainian servicemen on an armoured personnel carrier (APC) on the outskirts of Kryvyi Rih. (Photo Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images)

Victor Clements, Aberfeldy, Perthshire

Stranger danger

In all the Partygate posturing, have we lost sight of the purpose of Covid regulations to enable us to co-exist more safely. Boris Johnson broke his own rules and has, rightly, being punished. However did his actions increase the chance of spreading the virus and and endangering others' health?

He spent minutes with colleagues with whom he anyway works each day, having a drink and a piece of cake. Wrong, but dangerous? In comparison, Nicola Sturgeon's close mixing with strangers in a barbers without wearing a mask did enhance the risk of spreading the virus.

She is in contact with large numbers of the public on the campaign trail plus virtually nobody in the barbers was wearing a mask. Sturgeon's actions could easily have resulted in spreading Covid significantly more than Johnson's. Surely Sturgeon's behaviour must be deemed the more reprehensible?

Martin Redfern, Melrose, Roxburghshire

Record breaker?

The record turnout of voters was for the 2014 referendum when 84.6 per cent of the electorate voted and expressed a clear no to Scottish independence. It would be encouraging to see a big turnout of voters for May 5 local elections but turnout is always predictably poor despite the many local concerns there are throughout Scotland.

The main concerns in local communities are cutbacks in services, rising council tax and the funding imbalance between the Central Belt and the rest of Scotland. Perhaps it is time we adopted the Australian compulsory voting system to ensure a solid Scottish vote?

Dennis Forbes Grattan, Bucksburn, Aberdeen

Privileged position

Whatever you think about The UK Government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, politicians on all sides have criticised the Archbishop of Canterbury for wading in and using his Easter sermon to claim it was “the opposite of the nature of God”. Views of the laity often differ wildly from church leaders. Should the Archbishop be allowed to speak his personal views? Absolutely, but not from the House of Lords.

Neil Barber, Edinburgh Secular Society

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