Letter: True account

Your leader (7 October) accused the Conservative press office of dissembling and distorting, so let's be fair: while some people were clearly irked by my defence of family and Christian values during the last election – especially, it would appear, David Cameron – it is unfair to misrepresent and misquote my comments and to categorise me with "blunders" from which other candidates have immediately sought to distance themselves.

I made a very deliberate, written expression of my Christian views on my website. They were both respectful and defensive of the rights of homosexuals.

I did not say they were "not normal" but referred to the practice of homosexuality as not normal behaviour. That may seem an exercise in semantics but it is a very important distinction of tone.

I am not embarrassed by – nor do I regret – a single word I wrote, but I do obviously regret the hyperbole of others, especially the Conservative Party, which sought to gain cynical political advantage by demonising an independently-minded candidate in a safe Labour seat.

Initially, the party implied that I should pretend that my website had been "hacked into" – I preferred to stick to the truth and was dumped for doing so.

The media must be careful to distinguish candidates' puerile "gaffes" from statements of belief from those who speak their minds earnestly about serious topics, otherwise you will be left with clones who merely follow the party line, leaving the electorate unaware of who and what they are voting for.

Philip Lardner

Parkinch

Erskine

I regret that you decided to give space to Anne Ross's intemperate attack on Ivor Tiefenbrun for his defence of the union (Letters, 7 October). There is a case for (and against) separation and it would have been entirely proper for her to have made it.

She made no attempt to do so and instead used most of the letter to remind us that he is Jewish and thus apparently not entitled to express an opinion. Such arguments do not convince that a separate nationalist Scotland would be an attractive place.

Mr Tiefenbrun is clearly a very competent, creative, intelligent person. Such people are usually worth listening to, even if you disagree with them.Holyrood is not overburdened with such.

Neil Craig

Woodlands Road

Glasgow