READERS may recollect Cameron careering round Europe, whilst the UK was in the common market, trying to secure a deal. He failed.
He was supported by his close ally May, who stated: “Remaining 
in the EU does make us more secure, it does make us more prosperous and it does make us more influential beyond our shores.” She failed.
Osborne claimed he’d drive down the deficit by imposing austerity. He did not succeed, for a single month, and the UK now owes an eye-watering £1.7 trillion. He too failed completely.
Then there is Boris, who claims to speak five languages but struggles to communicate in English, and only opens his mouth to put his foot in it! 
Far from last and far from least, we have the ex Cabinet minister who cheerfully chirped about “war with Spain” in response to an unanticipated altercation over Gibraltar.
We are we less secure, less prosperous and less influential before negotiations even get started. Even more importantly, can the public have a grain of faith in this Tory team of total failures to run any aspect of this country? Time to show them the door!
Joseph G Miller
Dunfermline

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CONTEMPORARY political events are causing a strong feeling of deja vu in this household. Once upon a time there was an organisation called the Commonwealth and one of its members, which wished to follow a right-wing domestic policy, left this mutually beneficial arrangement to follow its own path. It was called South Africa. Now we have the UK carrying out a similar exercise to remove itself from the European Union.

The Labour Party once had a leader who was honest, decent and democratically committed. Michael Foot, of course, was demolished by the Tories, which was bad, but the aftermath – Blair and Brown – was worse. The present Labour leader may augur such a negative outcome as he is both decent but ambiguous about Trident.

This ambiguity is the most worrying sensation to anyone who lived through the Kennedy/ Krushchev nuclear confrontation. Now we are told that the USA may have aborted North Korea’s rocket launchings by means of computer hacking. Surely they could do the same thing with Trident if they wished? The recent criminal hacking in 76 different countries makes the same point.

It is easy to find this frightening, but the words of a much greater American President reassure me. “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

Susan FG Forde
Scotlandwell


WELL, that’s a relief! Sir Michael Fallon, defence Secretary, appeared on TV on Sunday morning to assure the public that our Trident defence capability was not at risk of cyber attack.

It is good to have this reassurance that our ability to incinerate millions of people in a few seconds is beyond such interference but that our National Health Service which millions of people rely on daily is still vulnerable to such attack. Priorities, anyone?

James Mills
Johnstone


THIS coming election could easily be seen to be the equivalent of an indyref2. After all, if we get 59 MPs out of 59 surely that must be a strong enough signal that Westminster cannot ignore. Mind you, I bet that Mundell would still be wittering away saying that the people of Scotland have no stomach for independence!

I remember discussing the merits of independence with friends and neighbours during indyref1. They beat me on the point of what currency Scotland would use. Salmond had never thought it out properly!

They also tried to say that Scotland was too small and could not function satisfactorily. There are 45 countries in the world that have either the same population as Scotland or less, and most are all functioning very well. None are clamouring to be taken over or joining up with others. Scotland is the wealthiest of all these countries and only Norway could argue the point of who is first.

It beggars belief that there are Scottish people who still wish to be governed by Westminster. Could it be that these people are suffering from what is called Stockholm syndrome? This is a psychological condition usually called “capture -bonding” that causes peoples/hostages to develop a bond with an oppressive imperial regime. Their unwillingness to break free is that they think there is merit in sharing wealth or bathing in some illusionary reflected glory.

As far as Scotland is concerned the reality is that their wealth sharing venture has yielded 40 years of mass theft of its oil revenues. Their incredible amount of wealth has been frittered away on illegal wars etc. All future oil revenues are to be earmarked for Trident renewal. No-one but no-one understands that Trident is not even an independent system under British control. It is entirely controlled by the USA, ie Trump! We do not even have the firing codes for any possible use of the system. So if a nuclear conflagration should occur then the people of Glasgow would be first in the firing line. And we are paying for this outrageous dubious privilege. I feel like the Mexicans who are about to pay for a wall. Come back Hadrian, all is forgiven.

Harry Schneider
Newton Stewart


THE hypocrisy of Tory MSP Douglas Ross beggars belief as he was pictured in Saturday’s Aberdeen Press and Journal in the cockpit of XV 244, the last Nimrod at Kinloss that was saved from the scrapyard by the charity Morayvia.

Ross claims to be the candidate to save the British military in Scotland from the nationalists. However, the squadrons were without warning ruthlessly sent to scrap by his Tory Government in 2010 and left the UK, an island nation with no maritime patrol capability whatsoever. The Nimrod MR2 was to be replaced by the new Nimrod MR4A, which had already cost the taxpayer £3.8 billion, with the first two new aircraft ready for delivery also being cut up in secrecy days after Cameron’s announcement.

Now, after flushing £3.8bn down the toilet, closing RAF Kinloss with its 2000 personnel and decimating the local economy, they now decide that we do need a maritime patrol capability after all, and have now spent a further staggering £3.4bn of taxes on American Poseidon aircraft to be based at RAF Lossiemouth after idiotically scrapping Nimrod. Lossiemouth itself only survived the Tory axe at the expense of RAF Leuchars due to the fervent campaign to save the RAF in Moray led by Angus Robertson of the SNP without a single Tory in sight! Standing up for military families then Mr Ross? Brass neck goes nowhere near far enough!

Graeme Goodall
Buckie