BOJOKE hasn’t got the spine to attend the debate on the issue of Tory sleaze. This is becoming a common theme with Johnson, leaving others to explain away his poor judgement. This time the lot fell to Stephen Barclay Chancellor to the Duchy of Lancaster. At least Barclay expressed his “regret” for his government’s behaviour unlike his boss who hasn’t even got the character to apologise for his actions.

And the sleaze just keeps coming. Even the apologist right wing press is turning against Johnson. The Scottish Daily Mail’s lead story is about yet another damning revelation about the Tory MP and former Attorney General Sir Geoffrey Cox. Cox was able to vote in parliament remotely from the Virgin Islands. The front page of the Mail is emblazoned with the headline, “ TOP MP EARNS FORTUNE FOR WORKING IN TAX HAVEN.”

Labour can hardly believe their luck, give the gaffe prone Boris Johnson a length of rope and he’ll hang himself. The question is, can Labour make capital out of this train of unedifying events by a Tory government that’s turning in on itself and is in a state of complete disarray? Let me give the blond buffoon a piece of unpaid advocacy, resign!

Sandy Gordon
Edinburgh

I FOUND it really astonishing that the a Prime Minister of Britain dodges a crucial debate on corruption with the excuse of a prior arrangement. His urgent visit to Durham NHS was a calculated attempt to avoid the furore he had caused. This cowardly man actually used doctors and nurses as a human shield to distract from the flak he would surely have received had he attended the debate. The man is a coward of the first order.

Terry Keegans
Beith, North Ayrshire

THE row over party benefactors being elevated to the House of Lords highlights the fact that there continues to be no plan or even vision for how to reconstruct that seemingly august but ultimately ludicrous institution into something recognisably democratic.

In 2001 the total number of its members was 691. By 2011 it had risen to 792 and currently stands at 822, of whom three are listed as disqualified and one as suspended.

Apart from providing a convenient avenue through which governments can continue to deliver patronage to their often questionable friends there is no obvious benefit to the current arrangement. It merely stands as a stark reminder of the deficiencies in the supposedly democratic UK parliamentary system.

Cameron Crawford
Rothesay

SCOTLAND desperately needs independence because we are being dictated to by a front bench at Westminster consisting mostly of millionaires who haven’t a clue how most people live. They do not understand how people on low incomes needed the additional £20 a week top up to the Universal Credit, not only to pay for food but also for clothes for the children and to heat their homes. A large number of people who are entitled to receive Universal Credit are also working.

The way the Tory government at Westminster is behaving, the poorer population will be living in extreme poverty whilst they are living in luxury. The Tories seem to think that governing the UK is a type of board game and all they have to do is move the pieces around.

Susan Swain
Innerwick, Dunbar

I DON’T follow Michael Fry’s logic. Scotland is awash with untapped sources of renewable energy: wind, wave, tidal not to mention hydro/pumped storage. The Royal Society of Edinburgh’s comprehensively researched report on Scotland’s renewable potential claims it is several times greater than the country’s total domestic needs for not just electricity, but heat, transport and everything else while leaving plenty over for export to England and our continental neighbours.

READ MORE: If Scotland doesn’t require oil so much, is it less in need of independence?

I’ll bet our Westminster masters understand this better than the SNP and will endeavour to slow down the development of Scotland’s renewable generation potential for their political ends. For example Scottish renewables generators are placed at disadvantage to those in the south of England courtesy of the Transmission Network Use of System charging regime and there appears to be no willingness to make the system fairer as, for example as it is in Denmark. However, the transition from hydrocarbons to renewables is unstoppable and it’s only a matter of time before Scotland will be in the energy driving seat.

Bill Bryan
Inverness

IN response to P Davidson’s letter re: Scots Language (Oct 31), I was recently told this story by an older member of the community. At his primary school a new teacher arrived to teach in “proper” English. On one occasion, there was a commotion in the class and the teacher asked “Children! What’s ado, What’s ado? And in unison the class replied “Miss, it’s a pigeon”!

Iain Patterson
East Linton