Election promises - 'It's time for a little more frank talking'

At the most superficial level, we flock to see feel-good films for a quick dose of optimism, but we also like to believe politicians when they tell us that the future will be a little rosier.

That is why Alex Salmond is putting so much stall by his Scottish Futures Fund, which will dispense 250 million to projects supporting youngsters in our most deprived communities, keeping our homes warm and well-insulated and other projects aimed at building a brighter future for our young people.

It is why Labour leader Iain Gray is pledging to wipe out youth unemployment within five years ,why Annabel Goldie's Conservatives are promising to give away 200m in council tax benefits to all Scottish pensioners and why Tavish Scott's Lib Dems are promising 100,000 new jobs.Of course, we all expect at election times to be wooed by the rival parties and to take some of their promises with a pinch of salt.

But there is a growing feeling that this Scottish Parliament election campaign is becoming detached from reality.

It is, of course, taking place against a background of the biggest public spending cuts for generations.

The UK national debt, in case anyone had forgotten, is expected to hit 1.2 trillion by April next year.

Yet what no-one, with the possible exception of the Conservatives, is willing to talk about in any convincing detail is where the axe would fall to cover their largesse.

The SNP will argue that its promised spending splurge is being funded by savings from the 1.87 billion earmarked for the new Forth crossing, but Edinburgh voters know better than most to be cynical about the budget figures bandied around for major engineering projects.

Labour's vague talk of efficiency savings is hardly more convincing and the Lib Dems' 1.5bn from selling Scottish Water's debt is uncertain.

It is time for a little more frank talking please.