Letters: Eating away at Holyrood’s credibility

It must send out a very clear message to the voters in Scotland when Joan McAlpine MSP, one of Alex Salmond’s closest aides, preferred to have lunch with her boss rather than attend to parliamentary business, and apparently not for the first time either (your report, 18 May).

In this instance she airily cites the excuse that “she lost track of time”, a very glib and poor excuse indeed. It is also interesting that the stern messages about alcohol consumption trumpeted by the SNP government do not seem to apply to Holyrood, since she was also sipping wine, which means that she was drinking in working hours.

If this is a general practice in the Scottish Parliament then it is a worrying trend. Anywhere else consuming alcohol in working hours is a sackable offence.

This is bad enough, but when one reads about the kind of taxpayer-subsidised meal that she enjoyed it makes a nonsense of the claim that she, like the rest of her party, represents the interests of the people of Scotland, many of whom, at the present time, could only dream about that level of cuisine, far less afford it.

Brian Allan

Keith Street

Kincardine-on-Forth

The failure of the seemingly undisciplined MSP Joan McAlpine to appear within the chamber of the Scottish Parliament to ask a question is one thing, but the episode lifts the lid on a world of fine dining enjoyed by Alex Salmond and his entourage which those on the outside can only dream about.

The heavily subsidised lunch menu, which apparently included smoked venison with Strathdon Blue cheese dressing and poached red wine pear, followed by breast of Scottish chicken with grilled asparagus, chorizo, olives and Parma ham, plus a bottle of Pinot Grigio, seems to be a feast fit for a king, or at least a First Minister.

I am sure pensioners and families struggling to put the most basic ingredients on the dinner table will sleep happily at night in the knowledge that our rulers are able to maintain their lavish lifestyle during a period of austerity.

Bob MacDougall

Kippen

Stirlingshire

THANK you, Tom Peterkin. Your article on the public rebuke for SNP MSP Joan McAlpine’s serial failures to turn up to do her job (in any other job or profession she would probably have been dismissed) has also brought to wider public attention the menu in the publicly subsidised Holyrood Parliament restaurant.

There are hungry children going to bed in the schemes tonight, while the folk in the Holyrood bubble tuck into their smoked venison with Strathdon cheese, and rump of Perthshire lamb with spring vegetables and salsa verde – paid for in part from the taxes of the parents of those same children – should they be lucky enough to be in a job.

The gravy train never stops running, does it? Why are we publicly funding the feeding habits of people who earn £57,000 per annum and counting?

I look forward to a party campaigning on limiting an MSP’s salary to one and a half times the average wage, and the removal of all subsidies from both Holyrood restaurants – and don’t give me all that guff about needing to pay top salaries to get top people: an average performer who actually turns up for work is worth more than a high flier who doesn’t.

David Fiddimore

Calton Road

Edinburgh

Certain questions do arise apropos Ms McAlpine’s lunch.

Is this her daily menu? What does she have for dinner? How much would this lunch cost in an Edinburgh star-rated restaurant, assuming that this was of similar quality?

How would anyone having such a midday meal stay alert while dealing with the nation’s affairs? I think that we should be told. And, of course, who else was with her?

Tom Reilly

Esslemont Road

Edinburgh