Clumsy attempt at name-calling before election?

May 29 2009 by Alison Lowson, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

I CAN always tell when there’s an election approaching, by the quantity and quality of letters which ping into my email inbox.

Take yesterday afternoon, when four, similarly-themed letters appeared almost simultaneously.

Ann Rees, Sheila Mannion, Joe Dawson and Kenneth Campbell are taking Pete Wishart MP to task for his rather modest subsistence allowance.

Now if Mr Wishart had been claiming for a home cinema, a moat or heaven forbid, a second mortgage, I might have had some sympathy.

But £200 a month for subsistence would hardly buy a cup of coffee and a muffin per day at London prices.

Both local MPs – Pete Wishart and Gordon Banks – have published full details of their expenses on line. And after subjecting them to close scrutiny there’s nothing to write home about.

I’m all for exposing MPs who are taking advantage of the public purse, but this flurry of letter writing looks like nothing more than a clumsy attempt at political name-calling in the run-up to the Euro/Westminster elections.