"FEAR 'talking Scotland down' is blinding many to the facts', according to Joan Mitchell (Letters, April 16).

That strikes me as right. If the polls are to be believed, in excess of 75per cent of Scotland's voters appear to have taken leave of their senses, and have signed up unquestioningly to the socialist narrative, led by the "Pied Piper" , the First Minister, who opines that "the last (TV) debate exposed the Westminster establishment parties' cuts agenda and their consensus on sticking with austerity" ("Sturgeon to reach out to Labour voters", The Herald, April 16).

Here are some facts. Total employment stands at 31million, with 2m new jobs having been created over the last five years in the private sector, offsetting 600,000 jobs that have disappeared from the public sector, largely as a result of voluntary redundancy, retirement and non-hiring. Zero-hours contracts are very few indeed, offer flexibility in the labour market, and are acceptable to certain types of employee and company. Welfare reform has pushed the able-bodied into work, which can only be to their benefit. UK unemployment stands at 5.7 per cent, one of the lowest rates in the EU and the Western world.

Comparing the performance of output across countries from the beginning of 2008 to the end of 2014, thereby encompassing the crisis period, the recession and the subsequent recovery, the UK economy grew by 3.4 per cent. This compares unfavourably with 8.4 per cent in the US, 6per cent in Norway, 8per cent in Switzerland and 17.3 per cent for the world as a whole, where free-market capitalism rules (China 70per cent, India 32per cent and the rest of the Far East, but not Japan, by more than 20per cent). On the other hand, the socialistic Eurozone contracted by 2.2per cent, with only Germany keeping pace with the UK. France stagnated, Spain contracted by 6.4per cent, Portugal by 7.3per cent, Italy by 9.5per cent, and Greece by 26per cent.

Currently, the rate of inflation in the UK is zero cent. Real wages have been rising for nearly a year, and consumer spending as a whole increased by 3.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2015 (according to data from Barclaycard), and restaurant spending by 17 per cent and entertainment by 11.9 per cent. In March, when the latest number plate came in, dealers registered 492,774 new cars. This was the 37th month running of increased car sales, was 6per cent up on the same month last year, and the highest number since the shake-up of registrations in 1999.

If this is austerity, give me more. The leaders of the Left - Ed Miliband, Nicola Sturgeon, the Greens' Natalie Bennett and Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood - have created an "austerity fantasy" for themselves in order to play on the fears of voters, and to feed their parties' addictions to taxing, spending, borrowing, meddling and social engineering. They do not deserve to have any influence on the government of a great nation until they put to right the current and past follies in their thinking.

Richard Mowbray,

214 Ancaster Drive, Glasgow.

IT would appear from recent statements from Jim Murphy that he does not understand the difference between savings and cuts. Let me therefore try to explain the differences to him in a simple format.

If I were to go to the supermarket intending to buy six packs of butter and bought a cheaper brand than I would normally buy, then that would be a saving. But if I were to buy four packs of butter instead of my usual six packs, that would be a cut.

Not rocket science, but Mr Murphy does not seem to understand the different definitions of these two words.

(Mrs) Kathleen Hollingworth,

7 Balwearie Road, Kirkcaldy.