EARLY last month I wrote in this slot that the forthcoming Scottish general election was not attracting a huge mailbag, and that it was being outplayed in the public opinion stakes by the EU referendum. Six weeks down the line – and with less than four weeks to go before the Holyrood poll – we are still in the midst of a phoney war.
As yet, hostilities seem to be relatively civilised. Yes, we have had some jousting over tax proposals and the fiscal deficit, but domestic politics have certainly not dominated the Letters Pages. This could be because, as previously speculated, the general view is that the result is something of a foregone conclusion. Maybe it is time to begin postulating as to what the turnout might be? I await comments with interest.
Perhaps less surprisingly, because the vote is not due until midsummer – a concept that at the time of writing seems as distant as that solar system Stephen Hawking has been talking about exploring – the European Union debate has also cooled. This might be down to a perceived lack of solid information around the issues, although with the official camps now having been nominated by the Electoral Commission, that ought to change soon. I expect battle to be fully joined after May 5.
There has, however, been no lack of heat on a couple of other fronts. To the fore has been the furore over the Panama Papers, an issue which has been playing big for the best part of two weeks now – even occasioning, on Tuesday, that rare event, a Letters Special. By and large, our readers have been outraged by the revelations, to such an extent that it was day four of the debate before we were able to print a measured defence of the Prime Minister’s position. This gives me the opportunity to reiterate that it is always our aim to provide a rounded debate; wherever possible we will print both sides of an argument. It may occasionally take time, but we nearly always get there.
The other hot topic has been the furore over the enforced shutdown of 17 Edinburgh schools (disappointingly, this is nearly always referred to as a “fiasco”; I had been hoping that someone would call it “schoolgate”). We can be proud of the level of comment on these pages; there has been as much light as heat in this debate.
As ever, we have had much else to talk about. In the three weeks since my last column, we have also discussed such diverse topics as Police Scotland, the not proven verdict, the independence peace camp, litter, bicycles on trains, Christianity, Named Persons, NHS targets, the correct pronunciation of “Holyrood”, speedway, TV coverage of golf, autism, motor insurance for the elderly, and the prospect of the Guinness Book of Records introducing a new category for fast births (after a Dundee mother delivered her healthy baby in five minutes and 17 seconds). On that last subject, R Russell Smith of Kilbirnie provided my favourite comment of the last few days. “In the name of gender equality,” he wrote, “will a new category be established for the other end of the business?”
Ach, who needs politics anyway?
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