I am somewhat dismayed by the defeatist attitude of Elaine C Smith ("It isn't fear that stops our comics from dabbling in political satire", The Herald, Agenda, May 4).

She and her estimable colleagues, Susan Calman, Bruce Morton et al seeming to be conceding that Scotland has no sense of irony nor an appetite for digging up our so-called betters. Whit? This is Scotland, where we all kent yer faither.

Are these people too young to remember the brilliant Radio Scotland series Watson's Wind-up, in which politicians were regularly lampooned, to the extent that BBC Scotland axed it in 2009 supposedly due to pressure from Holyrood?

No, the Scottish tradition and essence of humour is the cruel joke ... that which cuts pomposity down to size. If we lose that, we might as well all start voting Tory or Ukip.

Hugh Steele,

4B Lennox Road,

Cumbernauld.