Salmond ego trip

With austerity measures in swing everywhere across the UK, with cutbacks even in the NHS and other previously sacred cows, it is with amazement I read of the First Minister’s planned trip to the US. No sense of propriety here, is there?

While others in government across the UK have had to tighten belts, not so Alex Salmond. A visit many see as little more than an ego trip goes ahead at an untold cost.

In much the same way as during his visit to China, Mr Salmond and his entourage will no doubt be fobbed off with meeting some minor dignitaries and at the end of it all his PR office will be at pains to tell us all he has achieved, when everyone knows nothing will have been achieved that could not have been achieved by a minor trade official from the nearest British Consulate.

Mr Salmond’s penchant for grandiose trips abroad and any kind of exposure to cameras is legendary, but why should we, the people who stump up the taxes to pay for this ego-massaging, have to pay for it all?

Alexander McKay

New Cut Rigg

Edinburgh