Royally distracting

In March the British government announced that Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia had been poisoned with a deadly nerve agent in a Salisbury park. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson insisted that Moscow was responsible, a claim that led to the largest worldwide ejection of Russian diplomats in history.

It was only later that the French and other nations started to wonder why this long-retired and strategically irrelevant ex-spy, attacked by a fast-acting nerve agent that shuts down the respiratory system within 30 seconds, managed to survive for several hours, during which he went for a stroll, drank beer and had a meal.

Yet Boris Johnson claimed Porton Down told him it was definitely Vladimir Putin “what done it” using a weaponised miniature drone, or Yulia’s suitcase, or the car’s air vents, or another cunning thingie. When this proved to be a load of porkies, the Foreign Office covered it up with deleted tweets and rewritten transcripts.

Two months after his spectacular “assassination”, with the world spellbound by the immensely popular spectacle of a Royal Wedding, Sergei was quietly slipped out of hospital. It wasn’t so much a good day to bury bad news as to cover up the miracle of a dead man walking. (REV) DR JOHN CAMERON

Howard Place, St Andrews

The Royal Wedding this past weekend saw the best side of humanity, with everyone enjoying themselves and there being no trouble.

However, it saddens me that some members of the public privileged enough to be invited into the grounds of Windsor Castle to take part in this historic day chose not to keep the VIP bags given to them but are selling them online, with bids reaching in excess of £1,000. I think that is exceptionally distasteful and goes against the spirit of the occasion. Shame on you, I say to those people that don’t want to keep a piece of history, preferring to make some fast cash. GORDON KENNEDY Simpson Square, Perth