Sturgeon masterclass in talking down clock - your views

"Baffling listeners by very long replies is her usual tactic”

Sturgeon masterclass in talking down clock

Nicola Sturgeon claims she spent eight hours on Wednesday answering all the questions thrown at her at the Complaints Hearing. Almost true!

She used her usual tactic of talking at great length round all the questions until the focus of the questions was lost. And, as the deadline of 5pm approached, she was like a rugby team running down the clock to avoid any more questions.

The other remarkable thing was the minute detail she remembered about all other meetings to do with the complaints against Alex Salmond over the past couple of years except that crucial meeting on 29 March when, for some unknown reason, total amnesia set in only to be replaced a day or two later by total recall of her meeting with Mr Salmond on 2 April.

Baffling listeners by very long replies is her usual tactic. However, there was a change at FMQ when, instead of talking round Ruth Davidson’s claim that she had cost the taxpayer over half a million pounds by ignoring legal advice, she resorted to hurling personal abuse at Ms Davidson – a sure sign that she couldn’t defend the indefensible.

Henry L Philip, Grange Loan, Edinburgh.

Scotland’s fortunes dwindle under SNP

Local services: In the past 10 years of SNP government in Scotland the SNP have cut money to local councils by £1.5billion. Desperately needed services are now cut to the bone. Food bank uptake has risen by over 400% in past 10 years. One in three Scottish children are living in poverty.

The number of teachers has been cut by 4000, and Scotland has dropped from eighth in the international education league to 23. And job prospects were not improved for Scots when SNP cut part-time college training courses.

Social care: A chaotic plan in 2019 to devolve childcare services caused delays in delivering attendance allowances, carers allowance and disability allowance till 2022. An Audit Scotland report on this says: “The Scottish government does not have a clear understanding of the key things needed to deliver all these benefits”.

Not one aspect of public services works well now, and it is children, the poorest and most vulnerable who are suffering the most from this incompetence.

Scotland has just got £1.2 billion in extra support. The SNP government need to add it to the £2.7 billion unspent and provide support for individuals, workers, low-income families and desperately struggling small businesses.

The SNP is the party of austerity in Scotland.

Anne Wimberley, Belmont Road, Edinburgh.

Can you really recycle cosmetic containers?

Leaving the supermarket, my eye was drawn to a display from a leading cosmetics company which urged that we recycled our makeup with the slogan “Don’t fling it. Bring it.”

The idea is to deposit used or unwanted cosmetics in the display column. They obviously can’t recycle the makeup itself. The more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that you can’t really recycle the tubs, tubes and bottles they come in either.

The containers are very small and of little value, it is neither economic nor practical to recover the material they are made of for reuse.

Obviously, this is a marketing ploy in which the beauty company promoting the venture pays the recycler to take the old makeup off their hands (and bury or burn it), so they can pretend to be green. This undermines genuine recycling.

Penny Patience, Ingliston Road, Edinburgh.