Readers' letters: Forgotten nursery workers of Covid

Nursery workers who have worked during the pandemic feel disregarded, worthless and broken.

Many are on minimum wage, receive no sick pay and many have no protection from Covid.

All our emergency services use nursery staff to care for the welfare of their children. It is disgraceful that they have been marginalised and ignored.

One such worker wakes up in the morning not knowing the staffing levels of her workplace. Some of her colleagues have contracted Covid and must self-isolate on zero pay.

The manager notifies some close contact members of staff that they must test themselves and book a test at one of the established hubs, a cost which they themselves must pay for but can barely afford because they are on the minimum wage or less!

Worse still a result pings through on the App. If it is negative then relief at not having to isolate and no loss of income. However ,if it is positive the reverse kicks in.

Why is it that a school or nursery must close when novo-virus breaks out but when an outbreak of Covid occurs it remains open? Given that one can kill, there appears to be convenient rule bending.

Peter J Sargent, Edinburgh.

Presiding over an easy ride for Nicola

Watching Westminster’s deputy speaker, Scots-woman Eleanor Laing, sorting out the unruly rabble of SNP MPs this week, I wished that we had her or a woman or man of her calibre presiding at Holyrood.

She pretty much matched the present House of Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, who recently vigorously corrected the Prime Minister. It just would not happen in Scotland.

In our own domestic gathering, the presiding officer appears to be simply another fully paid-up member of the First Minister’s fan club.

She tiptoes around many contentious matters, including getting answers on the sexual questionnaire introduced in our schools, and, most basic and worrying of all, Nicola Sturgeon’s refusal at FMQs to answer the questions she is being asked directly and without obfuscation.

And she should cease immediately giving Covid updates on her semi-permanent TV slot and instead inform elected members first – as it would be in any normal assembly.

We need a presiding officer with teeth, one who will use the power of a speaker for the benefit of the people, and not kow-tow to authority.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh.

Ethical standards slipping in politics

It becomes increasingly clear that all is not well in the governing spheres.

We are being treated to Edinburgh City Council's shocking attempts to cover up past (and present) dreadful behaviour by well-paid employees, and now to Boris and his pals' most recent denial of their super-hypocrisy.

Do we need yet more laws and procedures to deal with corrupt public servants?

No, what we need is honest men and women who will not lie and will remember that they are just that - servants of the public and not of themselves.

Sue Rose, Edinburgh.

Johnson is Labour’s secret weapon!

Both the Labour Party and the SNP are calling for the removal or the resignation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson over his handling of the Christmas party mess.

Bearing in mind the damage he is doing to his own party, you would think that they would want him to continue?

William Ballantine, Bo'ness.