Quisling claim

To supplement the reply by Ian Johnstone (Letters, 23 July) to Paul Lewis (Letters, 22 July), it is regrettable that the latter repeats unfounded slurs against SNP candidate Neil Hay. Neil Hay made no derogatory comment about pensioners.

He had written that some poor folk who are able to vote barely even know their own names. This is true. No age-range was mentioned.

In any case it is compassionate rather than critical. Equally he did not refer to No voters as Quislings – he tweeted a link to the satirical website BBC Scotlandshire which contained, with much else, a fantasy item about a Quisling Dinner.

That website takes its name from the impression that parts of the UK establishment, including the BBC, treat Scotland as a county or shire. Whether that impression is justified and whether the website is entertaining are matters for individual judgment.

David Stevenson

Blacket Place

Edinburgh