DAVID Torrance tells us the political crisis Labour faces is of its own making, and for Labour it's too late (“Scottish Labour sowed the seeds of its ongoing decline”, The Herald, April 25). But it was Iraq and the financial crisis of 2008 that disillusioned voters.

The wheel can turn for Labour because it's clear that the SNP had no financial policy to help us live as an independent country, and the Tories look after their shires before anyone else, and chase total eradication of debt for ideological rather than pragmatic reasons.

Only the left-wing parties were prepared to unfreeze council tax and spare council workers huge wage cuts. Voters may like the charming SNP faces but are surely not oblivious to the hard facts of life. This era cannot last.

Andrew Vass,

24 Corbiehill Place, Edinburgh.

GIVEN that a significant majority of the 45 per cent which voted Yes is going to vote for the SNP and the No voting 55 per cent is going to split its vote between the three major Unionist parties the entrenchment of an SNP government for the foreseeable future seems inevitable.

This is very worrying in the light of the total absence of checks and balances in the Holyrood Parliament and the political establishment's apparent failure to recognise this threat to our democracy.

Until such time as the hubris of the SNP eventually brings it down, as it must surely do, the community of citizens must recognise and speak out against this danger.

John Milne,

9 Ardgowan Drive, Uddingston.

AS the politicians deck our halls with leaflets, I see a tendency to say “social justice” when they mean “socialism”. Are they becoming so snobby that they think the word “socialism” sounds too scruffy?

Moyna Gardner,

28 Hamilton Park Avenue, Glasgow.