Final countdown

Much as I respect Derrick McClure’s honest belief, I am afraid he has it wrong with regard to his view that Alex Salmond has not accepted inevitable defeat in the referendum next year (Letters, 26 January).

Nothing is more certain than that the First Minister is now simply trying to limit damage to a crushing defeat and not the humiliating, cataclysmic landslide that could see the break-up question not raised again in the lifetimes of anyone alive today. The wily Mr Salmond is no doubt now preoccupied with working out how he can come out of it smiling, and who can he get to carry the can.

With regard to the question asked in opinion polls colouring results, the wording in the polls that I have seen is exactly as it should be, fair and honest. Blaming the wording of the poll question for a succession of abysmal figures for the SNP is typical and would embarrass the description clutching at straws.

Alexander McKay

New Cut Rigg

Edinburgh