Sir, – The royal family have swiftly, courageously, and without waiting for any external judgment, taken the painful decision to reduce Prince Andrew to the status of private citizen.
Why can’t the Tory Party follow the royal example, stop hiding behind a meaningless review, and ditch Boris Johnson before he inflicts more damage at home and abroad.
Ian Auchterlonie. Denoon Terrace, Dundee.
Johnson too shameless to be able to hang his head
Sir, – Boris Johnson has to go. His position as prime minister of the United Kingdom must be untenable.
The apologies for the boozy dancing and drinking parties during lockdown are now coming thick and fast.
Whether you are a royalist or not, the saddest picture has to be of the woman who has served this country so well and for so long, our Queen Elizabeth II, who took on this role not because she wanted to but because of circumstances when it came her father’s way and then hers, sitting in mourning, alone and isolated at the funeral of her husband, Prince Philip.
How well she has served this country with dignity and forbearance for many, many years.
You, Mr Johnson, cannot even serve it in a respectful manner for a couple of years.
You make rules for the rest of us – only for you and your cronies to break them.
You are so arrogant you consider yourselves to be above the laws you set for the minions.
If our Queen can respect them in the saddest of circumstances – what is wrong with you?
As for the comments of Jacob Rees-Mogg regarding Douglas Ross, Conservative Party leader in Scotland, they are, yet again, arrogant and dehumanising.
Mr Rees-Mogg, by his attitude, demeanour and snooty arrogance, is why the Tories are disliked in Scotland.
We are a nation of mostly working class, honest, down-to-earth people.
Mr Rees-Mogg belongs to a time and century long gone, stuck in a time warp of high society, snobbery and arrogance.
Boris Johnson, you should hang your head in shame – but shame is something you will probably never experience.
Joyce Langlands. William Street, Tayport.
Prime minister’s a product of the elite
Sir, – Here we are then, facing the fact that our PM has “no clothes on”, to be seen by all in our country as a downright liar. It’s as though we didn’t really know deep down he was this already, a liability to both Queen and country.
Boris Johnson has been shown to be thus over several years and posts he has held and been sacked from. With him it’s been self, self, self, irrespective of his denials and apologies, which are difficult to swallow then and now even more.
He is a product of his environment. The environment that sticks up two fingers to the rest of us, and sometimes it is the single finger salute, but it’s not his fault, it is the system that creates an elite that thinks and acts like it is not governed by the same rules.
It’s a system that teaches and conditions one small section of society that being in this education route means they are better than the rest of society.
Some are genuinely gifted and receive bursaries, others are well supported and get promoted into this elite streaming by dint of the financial capability of their parents/grandparents.
It starts at fee-paying schools, that get tax breaks as they are “charities”, continues on into which higher education establishment you attend and what connections are made through university, otherwise known as the old boys’ network.
It continues on oblivious of what the general public thinks and uses weasel words to create some wriggle room, or otherwise the behaviour is described as “being tight to the line” – and they don’t matter as we control the levers of power.
A typical validation of this is the Met Police chief Dame Cressida Dick’s failure to investigate previous breaches of Covid law.
Like Mr Djokovic, they should be banned from taking part, but just like Mr Djokovic, Mr Johnson will regretfully not face any further sanction.
Such is the dystopian government we in Scotland are forced to endure.
Alistair Ballantyne. Birkhill, Angus.
