Letter: Salmond's Homecoming responsibility

The refusal of the First Minister to appear before the Public Audit Committee at Holyrood and answer questions on the debacle of the Homecoming (your report, 25 September), can only be interpreted as cowardice.

The normally publicity-hungry Mr Salmond refusing an offer to grandstand should set alarm bells ringing in even the least suspicious- minded.

He took on the Homecoming project with highly personal, at times frightening, zeal and for him now to cast the hapless Mike Russell forward as the sacrificial lamb for the whole sorry mess leaves a bad taste in the mouth of any observer.

The contrast between the lightning-fast acceptance of praise for the 2014 Commonwealth Games and his equally fast distancing and abandonment of his once-favoured Iceland, Ireland and now the Homecoming, reveals, more than anything we have seen up to this point, the basic character of the First Minister of Scotland.

Alexander McKay

New Cut Rigg

Edinburgh

I find it difficult to understand why the First Minister is refusing to appear before MSPs investigating the way taxpayers' money was spent on the flagship event of Scotland's Year of Home- coming.

Such an honest politician should have no difficulty in answering such questions, as silence only breeds rumour and suspicion.

John McDonald

Rosebery Court

Kirkcaldy

Lord Sempill has already admitted that he and the other directors of The Gathering Ltd got it all wrong, leading to the collapse of the company despite a "secret loan" approved by Alex Salmond, our First Minister.

On behalf of the many creditors and voluntary groups left high and dry without so much as a penny, Alex Salmond must come clean as to why he approved a 180,000 payment of taxpayers' money to a company that was clearly heading into insolvency.

Dennis Grattan

Mugiemoss Road

Bucksburn, Aberdeen