Rugby rumble

The hissy fit that followed Alex Salmond’s exclusion from a pre-Murrayfield rugby international television programme highlights something which has been a concern of mine for a long time.

Such has been the success of the SNP campaign to obtain free publicity from the media that Mr Salmond clearly now sees it as his right to appear nightly on our television screens.

However, this is media manipulation, pure and simple, and should be subject to appropriate scrutiny by the UK authorities.

The fact that he was prevented from making his daily foray into the sitting rooms of homes throughout Scotland shows that at least one executive has the guts to stand up against the controlling tendency of the Nationalists.

Moreover, Mr Salmond’s description of that executive, who refused to bow to pressure, as a “gauleiter” shows where the SNP, a national socialist party itself, draws its inspiration from.

Andrew HN Gray

Craiglea Drive

Edinburgh

Rightly or wrongly, an angry Alex Salmond has been criticised for reportedly calling a BBC executive a “gauleiter” after he was dropped from taking part in a sports programme.

However, surely the fault lies with the BBC for inviting Mr Salmond to be a sports pundit in the first place, particularly since it involved a Scotland v England rugby match where emotions can run high.

By calling for a referendum on independence, Mr Salmond has put himself in a position where he should use reasoned argument and facts to convince people of the benefits or otherwise of independence.

Being in a sports studio is perhaps not the best place to seem statesman-like and objective. He should stick to the political rather than the sporting arena.

Bob MacDougall

Kippen

Stirlingshire