Beyond the pale, Johnson disgusts me

I like to think I’m quite good at understanding other points of view and am happy to give and take, but who on Earth are these people watching Boris Johnson giving evidence to MPs about the Downing Street lockdown parties and thinking he’s the guy to trust?

He is just so far beyond the pale people should be throwing fruit at him in the street. His basic defence seems to be that these were essential working events because he had to thank his staff for working so hard and raise morale. I’m sure there were plenty of us who worked hard through Covid and would have liked a glass of something cold and a cheery word from the boss. But we were told to stick to the rules, so we did.

The only people who didn’t, apparently, were the people who made the rules. Disgusting.

Sarah Wilson, Edinburgh

Peeheein’ please

Seventy-five years ago, The Sunday Post included two familiar and long-standing comic strips. Oor Wullie was for kids and kids-atheart. The Broons was aimed at all-age families, and the more dysfunctional the better.

Along with beautifully crafted images, there was consistently brilliant use of the Scottish vernacular. The words pee-heein’, weel, muckle, denner, dinna, whaur, michty, thocht, boolin’ and wid were woven into the stories.

Fast-forward to now, and I find much of that precious language seems to have disappeared. Of the 1948 jewels, I could only find wid. However, kent, mebbes, glaikit gowk, fower and heid did feature alongside the rather incongruous polarity and neutron flow.

I say more pee-heein’ and less neutron flows.

Ewan Brown, Edinburgh A right case

Seeing the picture of Jeremy Hunt with his budget box (Sunday Post last week) made me remember that, whether carrying a red ministerial dispatch box, brief case or a suitcase, always carry it with the lid next to your legs. If the lock breaks then the lid will fall against your leg and the contents will not fall onto the ground available for all to see. I was taught this by a hotel porter.

Bernard Powell, Southport

Frontline reporting

Thank you for publishing Dani Garavelli’s special report into poverty in Scotland and how it cuts lives short (Sunday Post last week). It is such an important but neglected subject and deserved all the space you gave it. The journalism was first class. Simon Murphy’s photographs were also first class. Well done to both. Samuel James, Glasgow

Fins went sideways

I had watched David Attenborough’s programme showing the Orcas hunting off the coast of Shetland, so particularly enjoyed your article about the west coast pair (Sunday Post last week). I don’t know if I felt sadder about the wee seals getting ambushed or impressed by the sheer sneakiness of the Orcas.

The way they suddenly start swimming on their sides to stop the seals seeing their dorsal fins was so clever and ruthless.

Tina Polsen, by email