Letter: Joan of Eck

MAY I respectfully suggest that it is no longer appropriate to employ Joan McAlpine as a regular columnist.

There is a long tradition of parliamentarians being given this kind of platform – names such as Michael Foot in his backbencher days; Tam Dalyell, or even Tommy Sheridan come to mind.

However, in most cases the members concerned were of a distinctive, sometimes quirky point of view, or represented shades of opinion that were otherwise not given coverage.

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In many cases they had hinterlands separate from their political life.

None of these descriptions applies to Ms McAlpine. She is officially the parliamentary liaison officer for Alex Salmond – effectively his mouthpiece. I have never detected the least sign of original thought or deviation from the party line in her oeuvre.

The other parties are not given such an opportunity by The Scotsman so I would suggest it would be equitable either to extend it to all the political parties in Scotland or (my own preference) to none of them.

Robert Cairns

Harrietfield

Logiealmond, Perthshire

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