Raising the tone

The latest ill-tempered exchanges at First Minister’s Questions saw Nicola Sturgeon spraying accusations and insults in all directions as she tried to avoid the issues being raised (“FM queries watchdog’s figures on colleges”, 23 June). Responding to questions from Kezia Dugdale about further education and the low number of college students, the First Minister accused Ms Dugdale of talking down colleges “in the same way as she talks down everything else in Scotland”. That is an outrageous slur and would have been called to order by Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh if he was at all serious about trying to raise the tone of FMQS.

In a moment of sheer farce, the First Minister then countered the Audit Scotland report findings about the numbers of college students being at their lowest since 2006-07 by saying she did not agree with their “methodology”. It’s a bit rich when a leader stoops to accusing her own auditors of not being able to count. KEITH HOWELL

White Moss West Linton, Peeblesshire