Sir: I think there is another Sturgeon paradox (‘Queen of Scots’, 5 December): that getting independence might actually damage her modus operandi. Currently she is able to pin anything which goes wrong on Westminster and take anything which goes right for herself. Lower prevalence of coronavirus in Scotland? Well, that’s because of Scotland’s control over health policy. What about the higher Covid death rate in Scotland then? Well, that’s because Scotland doesn’t have enough control over health policy. The sharing of powers allows blame and praise to be attributed as it suits. Yet only Sturgeon and the Nationalists can play this game. If the Unionists did so it would play straight into Sturgeon’s hands: ‘The Westminster elite are blaming us for their mistakes.’ This tactic is part of what has enabled the independence cause to surge so swiftly these past few years. But if Sturgeon gets what she wants, the game’s over. With independence, that narrative no longer works. Any blame would fall squarely on her shoulders. George Campkin Seaview, Isle of Wight

Grade inflation has been a well-worn topic of discussion for years. It seems to have permeated all levels of education in the UK, but is particularly evident in undergraduate degrees. Grades have never been higher. Perhaps this is all down to the students never having been brighter, teachers never more effective, and universities never more supportive. This would be lovely if true, but I fear it’s a fairy tale.

Trump is yet to concede the election. No losing presidential candidate has refused to concede since the convention first began in 1896. The fact that such a long shadow has been cast over the election result by his refusal to make a customary speech shows just how powerful conventions are. In a country which prides itself on the rigidity and concision of its constitution, one wouldn’t usually expect customs and conventions to hold any great value.

You might protest that three word slogans in politics are nothing particularly new. Indeed, if you trawl through the slogans used in UK General Elections over the last couple of decades, you’d struggle to find many that don’t fit this form. ‘Forward, not Back’, ‘Vote for Change’, ‘Ambitions for Britain’, ‘Make the Difference’, and ‘Yes We Can’ are but a taste of the wider smorgasbord. The format has been oft-used by every party for some time now. And for good reason – it’s a highly effective tool. The rule of three is a rhetorical device as old as time. Call it what you want – tricolon, tripartite motto, hendiatris, or even omne trium perfectum – it works. There’s a reason why Caesar didn’t tack another word beginning with ‘v’ onto ‘Veni, vidi, vici’, and why Nike chose ‘Just Do It’.

Sir: While I empathise with Douglas Murray feeling ‘uncharacteristically torn’ over the mask debate (‘The transatlantic mask divide’, 10 October), I’m not sure there is any real ‘divide’. The two sides are just reflections of each other. The public debate has become one of sickening virtue-signalling. Pro-mask public figures like to pretend that their mask is the healthcare equivalent of Trident and look down their noses at anyone who suggests otherwise. In the opposite corner, the anti-maskers go almost to the point of licking each other’s faces in defiance of the bits of cloth they view as a government-issued ball and chain.

The government is now paying Love Island ‘stars’ and other ‘influencers’ to promote their policies. There was a time when I’d have been shocked to hear that. Now, it doesn’t feel odd at all. It’s just the latest instance in a long line of actions by the government which help to develop an increasingly superficial, haphazard, ad hoc air.

I went on Twitter this morning and saw two tweets which I thought stood slightly uneasily next to each other. The first one was someone calling for the UK police force to be abolished – not reviewed, not reformed, but eliminated. No more police. Full stop. The second one was one of those slightly wacky ‘shower thoughts’ quotes – ‘Think about this: you are the sum total of a 14 billion year chain of unbroken cosmic evolution now thinking about itself’.

Zoom has proved to be an interesting adjustment. More than once I’ve opened the door to a room and found myself confronted with the face of an old school teacher, courtesy of my younger brother’s computer screen.

The latest figures predict that global carbon emissions from the fossil fuel industry could fall by a record 2.5bn tonnes this year. Largely due to the effects of the coronavirus outbreak, this could be the biggest decrease on record. The pandemic has caused unprecedented changes across all aspects of human activity.

A lot of focus has been placed on the UK government over the past few weeks. As the pandemic situation escalates, people have been turning to the Prime Minister and his team to provide the much-needed response. The government has done just that. They have taken unprecedented action to provide Britons with financial and health security.

When Boris Johnson came onto our televisions and announced the lockdown, the whole situation suddenly became a lot more real. No longer was this just something to mention alongside comments about the weather. No longer was it something that was just happening to others. Within the space of about a week, we went from singing songs while washing hands to not being able to leave the house other than for essential food shopping and one form of exercise a day.

We’ve had a busy few years of voting; three general elections, an EU Referendum, and a Tory leadership election, all interspersed with SU Elections, Eurovision and ‘I’m a Celeb’. Well, if you’re sick and tired of it all, I’ve got good and bad news.

Boris & Co. are back at it with more wily tricks coming at you. This time it’s a banishment of journos not sympathetic to the cause. Out are those with any reservations about Boris’ plans for levelling up, rallying round and beefing out. In are the Torygraph and the Mail.

The UK is leaving the EU. It’s happening on the 31st January 2020. What shall we do to celebrate?

With just one day to go before the General Election, a number of students submitted their reasons why they’ll be voting for a certain party. The Boar Comment conducted a poll on our Twitter page (@BoarComment) asking the question “Who will you be voting for in the General Election?” The poll was conducted between 12 November – 19 November by a sample of 299 votes.

As I sat down to watch the 2019 General Election debate, I was full of optimism. This would be the moment where I could escape the hustle, bustle and bewilderment of the campaign thus far and come out with a clear head, a smile spread across my face, knowing the name that would have a cross next to it on my ballot paper

The usual debate around no-platforming centres on a clash between the right to free speech and the right to not be offended. Whilst there is something to be learned from this approach, it does not shine light on an important component of the issue: the actual effect of no-platforming on people’s knowledge and understanding.

The latest episode in the Brexit saga saw the Supreme Court rule that the Prime Minister’s decision to prorogue Parliament for five weeks in the run-up to the 31st October was unlawful. As such, it was found that Parliament had not been prorogued at all and could resume sitting the very next day, which is exactly what MPs did.