Letter: Salmond shame

How predictable it was that Bill Jamieson's commentary on Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray (23 September) should be repeated word-for-word by Alex Salmond during First Minister's Questions later that day - yet another example of Salmond's total lack of respect for the office he holds.

Far from knocking Gray out at Question Time, Salmond "succeeds" only by refusing to answer directly most of the questions put to him, preferring instead to resort to childish and bullying behaviour which is embarrassing to watch, and which is causing more of us to question the benefits of the devolution settlement.

I am no particular fan of Iain Gray, but as Bill Jamieson acknowledges, the Labour leader seems a decent enough man intent on taking the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament seriously. By contrast, Salmond's time in office has been characterised by him grandstanding and seeking to claim personal credit for everything which goes right, while placing the blame elsewhere when things don't go his way.

Remember, for example, his attempts to claim the success in securing the 2014 Commonwealth Games for Glasgow was due to Scotland having a nationalist government, at a stroke denigrating the years of work which had gone on by the Scottish Commonwealth Games Committee and Glasgow City Council, while at the same time ducking responsibility for a whole list of broken manifesto promises.

Bill Goodall

Baird Drive

Edinburgh