Can Nicola Sturgeon be our prime minister instead?

Having watched the election special on the BBC’s Question Time, the build-up of which was akin to an imminent football international, I came to the conclusion that Nicola Sturgeon was head and shoulders above the other three.

She had clarity of thought, unerring delivery and was for the most part unwavering in her conviction on Scottish independence.

The people of England can only hope that we have someone of her calibre to lead the country some day in the distant future.

Jeremy Wells
Alresford, Hampshire

I am getting heartily fed up with Boris Johnson answering every question put to him by journalists and members of the public with the useless phrase “let’s get Brexit done!” as if that was the magical answer to all our problems. It isn’t and never will be.

He’s not going to get Brexit “done” for years yet (by which time he’ll be long gone, hopefully).

For goodness’ sake, surely the sane people in this country can see he is an opportunistic politician with a shaky grasp of the concept of truth.

A vote for the Conservatives would be a catastrophe for sensibility in our troubled times.

Fiona Coombes
Clitheroe

John Rentoul’s column on the Question Time leaders’ debate had me wondering whether we had been watching the same programme.

To say that Boris Johnson had the audience eating out of his hand is a distortion of the reality which is usually to be found in The Independent. Johnson was derided on many occasions for his flimsy responses to some of the many thoughtful questions from an audience happily different from the noisy rabble which so often appears in these programmes, and, as I saw it, only the intervention of Fiona Bruce (we’re running out of time, let’s take another question etc) on several occasions saved him from further embarrassment. He really must have a skin like elephant hide.

Personally, I expected so much more from Johnson, especially as he had had the advantage of hearing the others before taking the stage, but sadly we had to make do with his usual bumbling stand-up routine.

Prime minister for another five years? I hope not, but fear so. What he has presided over in the three months since taking office, and his complicity in the period since 2010, makes me wish for someone of Kenneth Clarke’s stature to appear from the murk of today’s Conservative Party.

Rentoul was right about Swinson and Sturgeon – always impressive – but seriously wrong again about Corbyn, who answered questions fairly in the amount of time allowed with a command of detail which should have been the envy of Johnson’s supporters, who ought to have been dismayed by his repetitive, weary responses.

Vic Gaunt
Bolton

I cannot agree with Tom Peck’s view of Jeremy Corbyn’s decision to take a neutral stance in a second EU referendum. There have been too many people, including three prime ministers, who see everything in black and white and rush to draw red lines.

David Cameron clearly supported Remain, but did not make a very good job of it. Theresa May supported Remain, then swiftly switched to Leave when she spotted a career opportunity, which she then took three years to blow. Then Boris Johnson came along, having becoming a committed Leaver when he finally discarded one of his two conflicting draft Daily Telegraph articles, apparently overnight.

So where did those ideological, bigoted and self-serving stances get us? Into the divisive mess we are in today.

I am no Jeremy Corbyn fan but, in taking his neutral stance, he is the only grown-up with a chance of salvaging something from the disastrous 2016 referendum and to start healing the toxic divisions in this country.

Darryl Pratt
Leamington Spa

I fail to understand why anybody is surprised at Jeremy Corbyn’s declaration that, if were the prime minister, he would remain neutral in what would be another deeply divisive referendum on Brexit.

It makes sound political sense to avoid the risk of being on the losing side in the vote as this would surely be a resigning issue, as was the case with David Cameron.

Some fences are just made to be sat on and, even with the risk of the odd splinter in the backside, this is most certainly one of them.

Colin Burke
Cumbria

The contrast of what took place in Ottawa last month with what happened in Sheffield’s Question Time debate was chalk and cheese.

On Friday there were clear rules that the audience members and the politicians adhered to, the moderator was firm but fair, even when the questions came fast and furious. There was no grandstanding allowed from the questioners and no deflection or campaign rhetoric allowed from those responding. The technical production couldn’t have been better with every question coming through crystal clear, probably from unseen overhead microphones. No amateur-hour passing around hand-microphones that often malfunction, as witnessed so often here in Canada.

After viewing some of the impeachment inquiry from Washington DC, and becoming thoroughly sickened by the circus atmosphere embraced by many of those participating, this masterly BBC TV production was a sight for my jaundiced and cynical sore eyes.

I’m still unable to shake that virulent vision of the Canadian leaders’ debate in English last month, with five party leaders and four moderators all talking over each other. The debate in French that followed was a little improved on that model, but let’s hope that Friday’s BBC TV Question Time debate becomes a benchmark and template for future election campaigns in Canada.

After watching in despair as the Brexit brouhaha has farcically unfolded over the last three years, this was simply the best two hours of political television I’ve ever witnessed.

Bernie Smith
Parksville, British Columbia, Canada

In two reports in the papers today, I see how the justice system continues to “rate” crimes against women: two Italians convicted of rape get seven years, while two detectorists convicted of stealing a few gold trinkets... eight and 10 years.

I’m also struck by how violent crimes against women seem often to be investigated by relatively junior officers.

Dr Anthony Ingleton
Sheffield