MANIFESTOS, what are the public to make of them? It is difficult to judge parties who have not been in power and cannot implement their manifesto promises, however we do have parties elected to government and we can judge them on their manifesto commitments.

On Thursday we had the launch of a party manifesto from a party who has been in government for the last 14 years, the SNP. So are we to believe some of the new manifesto commitments from the SNP? Well to do that, we need to look at their record and actions from there 2016 manifesto, their performance in government, because action speaks louder than words.

Record spending on the NHS has certainly been delivered. A commitment to tackle child poverty has resulted in the roll-out of the Child Payment (£10/week) currently under way and the roll-out of the Baby Boxes for all newborns and increases in childcare hours. The Scottish Welfare Fund budget has seen massive increases. Social care workers have received the Living Wage. The establishment of Social Security Scotland with fairness, dignity and respect at its core, with a whole new approach to claimants assessments. Increases in Carer’s Allowance which saw some carers receive in excess of £400/yr. The scrapping of the Bedroom Tax. Introduction of the Climate Change Act, with ambitious targets set for reducing emissions. Unfortunately, although on target to deliver 50,000 affordable homes in the life of this parliament, the emergence of Covid stalled the delivery and the SNP missed this target.

READ MORE: SNP’s manifesto is both radical and ambitious on top of plans for independence

This is just a glance from a manifesto from five years ago, the new manifesto from the party defending their place in government is a manifesto presentation going forward from the pandemic we have all endured in the last year, how we interpret it’s content for ourselves, our own needs, the country’s needs, must be weighed against previous actions – as action speaks louder than words.

Catriona C Clark

Falkirk

HE’S like a pair of worn-out slippers. You have a certain fondness for them though you know they’re useless. There’s a hole in the sole and the back is bent down making them dangerous but it’s still difficult to bin them.

Tormented by an ego that refuses to let him retire gracefully, Gordon Brown can’t stop sending emails to The Guardian, the only paper left that still publishes them. After having helped created then “fix” the world banking crisis he’s turned his attention to various grandiose schemes that last as long as the fish and chips that they wrap.

Federalism – I mean it this time, SNP bad – again and so on but his latest wheeze is to fix the world pandemic. Protecting poor countries by spending £22 billion on a vaccine drive is undoubtedly a worthwhile cause but who’s listening, it’s actually quite sad.

The Guardian, bless its soul is a paper I respect even when it gets things catastrophically wrong, like supporting British Unionism in 2014, but it still obligingly trots out the views from “former prime minister Brown”. I suppose it feels ideological obliged to, and then again an ego the size of a planet cannot be ignored.

Mike Herd

Highland

HAMISH MacPherson does sterling service reminding us of key incidents in Scottish history. Unfortunately in his interesting account of the Battle of Culloden he has fallen into the all-too-familiar trap of re-telling Unionist propaganda as fact, without contradicting it (The eye-witness accounts of the Battle of Culloden, April 13).

He quotes the then Major Wolfe that Jacobite troops were under orders to give no quarter – and Wolfe then uses this as an excuse for government troops to give no quarter in return. In fact no such order existed except in the form of an addition to one copy of the actual orders forged by someone on Cumberland’s staff – presumably with his knowledge.

Ironically in later legend Wolfe was praised as the officer who refused Cumberland’s order to shoot a wounded Jacobite!

Although by no means all captured Jacobites were massacred, this did indeed happen to wounded on the battlefield, and the generally ruthless destruction inflicted on the civilian population of Jacobite areas reflects the same brutality.

READ MORE: The eye-witness accounts of the Battle of Culloden

Revenge enthusiastically exacted by Wolfe and others for a fictitious policy created by a lie!

Jim Hunter

Ayr

MY news feeds and social media are full of fighting and bitterness between sections of SNP and Alba. Ask yourself who gains? Who are the enemy?

Whilst this vitriolic battle continues the real enemy the Tories and other Unionists are being let of the hook.

Regardless of whether you are for two votes SNP or whether you vote SNP then green or Alba, please think about who the real enemy is and stop this damaging tit for tat slagging. It does not show any of us in a good light.

Chris Clark

Doune