Sir, – Boris Johnson is a deceitful individual with a history of fabrications. His resignation as Foreign Secretary is completely self-serving and hypocritical.
There are numerous examples. He was sacked from The Times in 1988 for fabricating a quote, and dismissed in 2004 from the Tory front-bench for lying to the leader.
In 2014 he slashed London’s fire services and told rival politicians to “get stuffed” when challenged about comprising safety.
As Mayor of London he promised to eradicate rough sleeping by 2012; it doubled under his leadership.
He was also both for and against Brexit.
He wrote a newspaper column, which wasn’t published at the time, in support of EU membership just days before backing the Leave campaign. His pro-Remain piece was later published in a book.
“An excessive sense of entitlement” was his explanation of the London riots in 2011. He should know, as part of the Bullingdon Club at Oxford in the 1980s, where activities apparently included smashing restaurant crockery, car windscreens and antique violins.
After supporting the Iraq war Boris described George W Bush as “a cross-eyed Texan warmonger, unelected, inarticulate, who epitomizes the arrogance of American foreign policy.”
Before Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States, Boris Johnson said he “betrays a stupefying ignorance that makes him unfit to be US President.’’
Later, after Trump withdrew from the Paris climate agreement Boris said : “Let’s see what Donald Trump does before we rush and wave fingers at him, accuse him of this, that or the other,”
Boris Johnson only cares about himself. He believes in nothing other than the fact that he should be in power.
This national joke should never have been appointed in the first instance.
Alan Hinnrichs.
2 Gillespie Terrace,
Dundee.
Democracy is in meltdown
Sir, – The Tory party seems to be in meltdown at the moment.
However Prime Minister Theresa May will not be toppled as Britain, like America, is a dominant, unrecognised ideology, achieved by an equally unrecognised brainwashing propaganda, disguised as enlightenment.
I grow up on stories of British Glory; I had no idea it was the Red Army that destroyed most of the Nazi war machine in the Second World War, at a cost of 13 million Russian soldiers’ lives.
Britain did not win a war; it was won for us by the Russians and Commonwealth forces.
While the British film industry and Hollywood revered the myth, US losses, including in the Pacific, were just 400,000.
The attacks on the US on September 11 2001, did not, as was claimed at the time, “change everything” in a positive way for democracy.
Instead it merely accelerated the process of destroying social democracy – an attack on the Bill of Rights in America and the end of trial by jury in the UK.
Civil liberties have been reduced to the ritual of elections – a competition between indistinguishable parties for the management of a single-ideology state.
That is why Mrs May’s head is unlikely to fall.
The warring parties at Westminster will end their squabbling when their grip on power is threatened; we the people have no say, for the UK is not a democracy.
Walter Hamilton.
Flat 3,
City Park,
St Andrews.
Worst ever government
Sir, – This is now, without doubt, the most catastrophic, inept and marching-blindly-into-the-dark government the UK has ever had the misfortune to have.
If this is strong and stable government, give me an independent Scotland any day. And to think the Conservative Party still blame the SNP for undermining their Brexit campaign.
Graeme Finnie.
Balgillo,
Albert Street,
Blairgowrie.
Put Mulberry back on the map
Sir, – I watched the BBC report on the possible abuse of patients in Carseview hospital – a less-than-acceptable situation.
When the Mulberry unit at Stracathro Hospital was closed two years ago, patients were transferred to Carseview.
There were no incidents at Mulbery unit or at Sunnyside Hospital of any kind of abuse.
Is it not time the NHS Tayside think again and put the Mulberry unit at Stracathro back on the map?
There was a concern the facility was up for sale recently, the revival of the Mulberry unit might help to put this to rest?
George Sangster.
Woodlands,
Logie,
Montrose.
Are our cars the insect killers?
Sir, – In response to Harry Key’s letter in Monday’s Courier “Clean windscreen is a sinister sign” I felt as a farmer I should address his assumptions.
Mr Key noticed a lack of dead insects on his car windscreen during a trip to Arran.
He then makes the huge assumption this is purely as a result of farmers using pesticides.
Farmers do not lash on insecticides with undue regard, and only use them when absolutely necessary and with increasing accuracy and safety.
Pesticides and their use are subject to huge regulatory scrutiny and farmers breach these rules at their peril. There have been huge steps in reducing pesticides’ wider impact as chemistry and application technology have improved.
In fact the weight of pesticides used in the UK has halved between 1990 and 2015 according to a recent Pesticide Usage Survey.
The road to Arran passes through large areas where cropping is limited by climate, soils and topography and I’d imagine Mr Keys would be hard pushed to spot crops that would require any insecticides here.
Who’s to blame for the lack of insects there?
Here is my own unscientific and unvalidated assumption. The number of cars on the roads has increased by more than 50% since 1990. If each car is acting as a giant fly swat indiscriminately killing flies, bees, moths and butterflies perhaps it’s the millions of windscreens on the nation’s roads that are partly to blame for the decline in insects.
The correlation of dead insects on car windscreens is a bit like blaming farmers for the lack of dead hedgehogs on the nation’s roads.
I do not dispute that there are fewer insects in the wider environment and farming has its part to play, but purely laying the blame with farmers is lazy and unhelpful, and does not look at the wider matrix of the impact we all have on the environment.
Thomas Pate.
South Powrie,
Dundee.
More to these birds and bees
Sir, – Harry Key (Letters, July 9) laments the lack of dead insects on his car windscreen, relates this to “the alarming loss of bird-life” and goes on to fear for the future of our planet. He lays the blame for this at the feet of the farmer, once again vilified.
Is his assumption that “farmers are using massive amounts of pesticide,” based on scientific fact or purely the speculation of an urbanite who knows little but says much?
Farmers use the minimum amount of pesticide necessary to produce a safe and economical crop. Pesticides are only administered following the advice of a highly trained and qualified agronomist.
The work is costly, time consuming and weather dependent. Only trained operators are permitted to use such chemicals, which must be stored under locked conditions. The concept of using “massive amounts” is far from the truth.
Agriculture may have contributed to climate change but there are many other factors to consider. Perhaps the correspondent could pay cognisance to that before biting the hand that feeds.
Margaret Aitken.
Percival Farm,
Windygates,
Leven.
