Letter: Untamed Salmond will lead us astray

HE IS now increasingly (and internationally) recognised as an icon for those who think belligerent buffoonery, bovver boy linguistics and a "hard man" walk is the preferred approach to issues of perceived national concern: the Supreme Court and its very limited power to scrutinise human rights aspects of Scots law.

Alex Salmond's attack (your report, 15 June) on Lord Hope and Professor Kelly was laughably immature, extremely petulant and utterly repugnant.

This attack, and those that preceded it, suggests that Salmond is developing (thanks to the election result and the prospects of independence) a Salmondonic Complex, which, if left untamed, could lead us through an arc of comedy to a heatherised (and independent) landscape replete with baleful reconstructions of battles won, wars lost, songs sung, tears shed, tales told and flags flown.

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A cacophony of Highland laments will replace grace before meals, curry will be the national dish and kilts, except in extreme conditions, (gales, storms and tornadoes) will be compulsory.

Our legal system will be hermetically sealed and kept that way by platoons of loyal and legally qualified (Scots law only) watchdogs whose deference to their leader never wavered - even when most of the known world was under instruction to avoid Bonny Scotland until puffed up buffoonery was overthrown as the official language of international relations.

Salmond's exercise in manufactured dissent and "wha's like us" delinquency will delight his doe-eyed followers. For the rest of us, it is a source of acute concern as to what we may have to endure in a post-independent Scotland.

Thomas Crooks

Dundas Street

Edinburgh

When Alex Salmond originally tasted power his very first priority was to erase "the Scottish Executive" from thousands of signs, forms and documents regardless of the cost.

Second time around, picking a fight with the Supreme Court is top of his agenda with his behaviour looking more ugly and seeming less measured with each additional rant.

The majority of us, without the benefit of a high salary and turbo-pension to look forward to, have more pressing matters to concentrate our minds and it would be nice if the parasites in Holyrood and Westminster would indulge in some real work, rather than behave like primary school children.

The First Minister has a mandate beyond his dreams but it would seem that behaving like a parochial town councillor has more appeal than even an attempt at statesmanship. That he is the best of a pathetically dire and dismal bad bunch makes it all the more depressing.

Lawrence Fraser

Mayne Road

Elgin, Moray