I WAS alarmed to see my mugshot on the letters page of the Tele on of March 20 under the heading, ‘A shocking revelation’.

Now, if I am not mistaken, it was a former pupil of mine who wrote the letter. The words ‘Revenge is a dish best served cold’ come to mind.

Despite her best efforts to unmask me as a charlatan, I must say that Nicole’s letter has a lot to commend itself. Concise and assertive as it is. Nevertheless, I’m confident that I can refute Nicole’s various charges. But life is short, so let’s focus on one or two key items:

1. ‘Welsh Labour’s NHS performs badly’. This one is straight out of the Boris Johnson playbook. So, obviously it’s suspect. In addition, it fails to factor in the fact that the Welsh average age is the oldest in the UK and that the Welsh have chosen to devote more of their budget to social care.

2. Nicole cites Labour’s downscaling of targets for climate change and benefits for larger families. Labour had no option. Liz Truss had left nothing but scorched earth in her wake. Nicole, you are condemning Labour for honesty.

3. But let’s scrutinise the Scottish Government’s own record on climate change. This is something you’d imagine our Green/SNP coalition would hold sacred. Imagine my horror when the Climate Change Commission recently told the Scottish Government that it was on course to miss every single one of its 2030 targets for lower emissions. Abject failure and our devolved government go hand in hand. So much so that it no longer surprises.

4. Sadly, SNP/Green failures are not confined to climate change. Take education for example: first, we had the big fanfare along the lines ‘Scotland’s education will lead the world’. Then there’s the reality. That reality is that under the Scottish Government’s ‘world leading’ system the attainment of Scottish pupils’ plummeted. So bad were the results that the Scottish Government had to withdraw Scotland from international comparisons. It was either that or national disgrace.

Finally, in June, November or whenever the election is, as a patriotic Scot I will be voting Labour. I don’t think Nicole will do likewise. But you never know.

Martin Brennan

Address supplied