Letter: Facts of life

On Saturday, I spoke to a small group of pensioners who had an electioneering stand set up for the SNP.

While I could not help but be conscious of their clear enthusiasm for their party of choice, I was more than a little alarmed at the clear ignorance of the facts that was demonstrated during my conversation with their most vociferous exponent.

If the SNP wishes to represent itself to the well-educated electorate of Edinburgh, they would do well to learn the facts of the British economy. Oil is not Britain's biggest earner and whisky is not its second biggest.

The SNP exponent did a lot of talking and very little listening, except to deny such truths as that the City of London is far and away Great Britain's biggest financial earner and that the car industry is a considerably bigger earner than whisky. I was left with a clear impression of what I already knew.

The SNP is not interested in addressing facts or facing reality. The truth is a stranger to it. That is the danger of having an SNP government in Scotland. It has a political agenda and facts must not be allowed to interfere with it.

Andrew HN Gray

Craiglea Drive

Edinburgh