Letter: Delicate balance

May I reply to Janice Thompson (Letters, 5 November) who berates me for stating what I believe to be the truth regarding paranoia and so many in the SNP?

Is Ms Thompson really unaware that the BBC carries out these laudable and scrupulous tests on affiliations of potential audiences in every part of the UK?

Not just, as she seems to think, in Scotland. Is she unaware that they are carried out to ensure a balanced audience, reflecting each party's share of the electorate? If these checks were not carried out, a single-issue party, crammed with zealots, would dominate and the legitimate views of the majority would be drowned out.

Alexander McKay

New Cut Rigg

Edinburgh