Letters: Decency not enough to deliver victory

Tom Peterkin (Perspective, 31 March) states that Iain Gray is a decent chap with decent values. Getting elected demands much more than this. Good intentions? Yes. But we all know that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

Also he must surely have more than "a couple of memorable phrases up his sleeve", as recommended by Mr Peterkin. A triumph of style over substance? Style is what we the voters find nauseating, insulting, patronising and very transparent.

What will cause defeat for Mr Gray and other Scottish Labour Party hopefuls is that, by their nature as part of the London-dominated national Labour Party, they are correctly perceived by most of the Scottish electorate as mere satraps of a London-centric clique. If Scottish Labour Party candidates cannot think or act independently of London Labour HQ then we Scots voters will vote for parties whose first and only allegiance is to Scotland.

Let the election roll on.

Robert M Dunn

Oxcars Court

Edinburgh

Given the present-day fixation with leadership personality, it's hard to believe the coming election might be even slightly close run. As well as their parliamentary performance, it's enlightening to consider the manner of arrival at Holyrood of Salmond and Gray.

Salmond won his seat from the Lib Dems with 41.4 per cent of the vote, an SNP increase of 18.8 per cent and a swing of 10.7 per cent. Mr Gray merely retained a solid Labour seat, but with a meagre 35.4 per cent of the vote - a reduction of 11.8 per cent - while his SNP opponent gained 10.7 per cent.

Complacency is a likely result of being handed one of the UK's safest seats, but these statistics should have fired a display of dynamism, self-assurance and firmness of purpose, especially after Mr Gray became party leader.

Instead, so insignificant has his performance been that even now he is little known among the public, while his debating skills have been lacklustre at best. It seems inconceivable to me that a thinking electorate would install him as our national leader with a mandate both to set government policy and to promote the country.

One might, therefore, expect his election campaign to be a crescendo of vigorous initiatives and exciting new vision of our future as a nation.

Maybe he's just a slow starter, but his "drive" so far includes last-minute adoption of opposition policies, such as the council tax freeze, which he and Labour had roundly condemned. That will annoy more than just Labour supporters.

I suspect the scene has been set for considerable tactical voting.

Robert Dow

Ormiston Road

Tranent

It is depressing listening to some of the politicians in the election campaign, such as Alex Salmond going on about "free" this and "free" that (with most other parties following on). Apart from the fact that many can actually afford these things, have they not heard about the financial state of the country?

We seem to be slipping back to the UK in the 1970s, when Milton Friedman had to remind us that "there are no free meals", ie someone, somewhere is paying. This drift from reality in Scotland is not reassuring.

William Ballantine

Dean Road

Bo'ness, West Lothian