Letter: Celebrity endorsements so meaningless

Sadly, as I predicted ( Letters 19 February) this election is more like The X Factor than the democratic process in action.

I am bored by the drip feed of celebrities proclaiming their support for Alex Salmond, as if we, the voters, were some bunch of starry-eyed teenagers being led to the polling booth by these luminaries. Do their endorsements matter? Not a whit.

If my boiler blows up, I send for a plumber. If my lights go out, I send for an electrician. Why should I care one jot about the voting intentions of Lady Claire MacDonald or Midge Ure (your report, 12 April), especially as they proudly proclaimed their allegiance to Alex Salmond before he had even launched his party's manifesto?

A little silence from the great and good would be welcome as we reach the closing stages of a very important process.

Anne M Keenan

Roshven

Lochailort, Perthshire

I much appreciated Allan Massie's magisterial overview of the proposed reform of the British voting system (Perspective, 13 April) and agree that we should take another look at the French set-up.

Our experience of the Scottish Parliament has been a disappointment but the expectations were simply manic given the quality of the candidates and the scope of their powers.

The "tail-wagging-dog" was not as bad as many feared though its fox-hunting legislation was farcical and we will pay dearly down the line for its obsession with renewable energy. The last, execrable, Labour government, with its vast Commons majority and minority electoral support, showed that "first-past-the post" can land us with a tyrannical regime.

Yet hopes should be muted because the coalition has shown the same delusional thinking at home, and propensity to interfere abroad, as we saw with its unlamented predecessors.

(Dr) John Cameron

Howard Place

St Andrews

Jim Sillars is his usual thoughtful and provocative self in suggesting some "bold" proposals for an SNP manifesto (Perspective, 13 April). However, his solution to the educational funding gap lacks some factual accuracy. His suggested tinkering with the free bus pass use is purported to release some 150 million which cannot be correct when 180m in total has been allocated for the concessionary fare scheme in 2011-12.

He should also be aware that should bus operators lose revenue from this source their likely reaction would be to increase fares or withdraw services with all the negative implications this would have for the travelling public.

Homewards to think again, Mr Sillars?

Bruce Methven

Barr Road

Galashiels

Jim Sillars implied the SNP had ignored the independence cause in this Scottish Parliament election. I can assure Mr Sillars that is not the case: SNP candidate Kenny MacAskill welcomed the 40th anniversary of independence… in Bangladesh.

Calum Miller

Polwarth Terrace

Prestonpans, East Lothian