Salmond strikes Putin-style pose

ALEX Salmond certainly adopted Vladimir Putin’s style of macho diplomacy for his visit to Bruges to woo the EU.

“Let us join the club or your fishing vessels might face Scottish gunboats – assuming we still have a navy after any post-independence negotiations.”

But let’s at least applaud ­Salmond for his honesty; if he really admires ruthless tyrants such as Putin, then it is right the country’s voters should know. We can only hope, however, that the First Minister doesn’t get any ideas for publicity stunts that involve taking his shirt off.

Paul Wright, Edinburgh