I HAVE been reading and thinking about the Max the Yes campaign recently and decided to do some research on the matter. And so, over the last couple of weeks I have been preparing a spreadsheet to show for each region how a percentage swing to a Yes Alliance might work. I have used the 2016 results and calculated on 10% increases from 10% to 100%.

Here is a quick summary:

At a 10% transfer from SNP to the Alliance, there is no change, the SNP remain on four list seats, the Greens on six and zero for the Alliance. At 20% the Alliance gain eight seats, but the SNP lose two, as do the Greens, resulting in a net swing to independence of four.

For each ensuing 10% increase there is a net gain of two to four seats culminating, at 100% transfer, in Tories 11, Labour 11, Greens one and the Alliance 33, giving a net gain of 24 for independence-supporting parties.

READ MORE: Max the Yes debate reveals confusion about our electoral systems

Since there has been some disquiet that the campaign may simply be some individuals trying to get a seat in parliament, I then repeated the exercise but this time passing the seats to the Greens.

Since the Greens already have a base, results were more immediate, with a net gain of three at 10%. From then on a similar pattern occurs but showing a slightly increased transfer, until at 100% the parties are at Tories 10, Labour 10 and Greens 36, giving a net gain of 26 seats for Yes-supporting parties.

There are lots of caveats, obviously, not least being “would you trust wee Patrick with that much power?” But it would seem to indicate that supporting the Greens will max the yes vote.

If anyone would like to see the spreadsheet, I would be happy to share it.

John Henderson
Linross

WILLIE Rennie and Magnus Linklater have really sunk into the cesspit in their latest “justifications” about David Steel’s inaction over the case of Cyril Smith.

Willie Rennie and the LibDems, when faced with stark evidence of their party leader’s past, simply ran away and hid. He is an MSP who used distorted logic and obfuscations to cover inadequacy, and one can safely say that this is a case of LibDem-baaaad.

We read, too, that Rennie and Alistair Carmichael – who personally has form for being loose with truth and accuracy, proven in a court of law in Scotland, and who has even been re-elected twice in the Northern Isles despite the evidence – were involved in an “enquiry” and seemed to skim over the evidence and produced a conclusion now contrary to the further enquiry into the case of “abuse in the Westminster environs”.

However, one must reserve one’s odium and downright disgust for the comments Magnus Linklater made in trying to excuse the actions of Smith and others when he unashamedly pronounced that aspects of child abuse were “less clear” 30 years ago than they are now.

Society is catching up with institutional perpetrators of child abuse from 30 years ago and sentences globally are being handed out to the perpetrators. Many have escaped through being no longer alive! The issues were just as clear then as now, except that the crimes were “hushed up” in the past for political expediency, in the case of the LibDems in this instance.

These comments by Magnus Linklater are utterly shameful! No doubt the actions and statements of Linklater, Rennie, Carmichael and Steele over this matter will continue to haunt them.

The LibDems in Scotland really need to take action, take a vote of no confidence in Rennie and Carmichael and demand their resignation. Enough is enough!

John Edgar
Kilmaurs

THE recent comments from the UK Treasury over the expendability of agriculture should be a major concern to Scots. Increasing reliance on food imports is taking us in the wrong direction. The effect of climate change on global staple crops and the precarious nature of Brexit negotiations threaten to leave us horribly exposed.

So what can Scotland do in its current capacity as part of the UK? We need to take back our land. Let’s start by discouraging the acquisition of land purely for financial speculation. We could do this with our current powers by levying a tax either at the local authority or Scottish Government level on non-productive land. The proceeds could be used to fund grants to enable land purchase for smallholders and new farmers in order to boost the availability of local food.

We are in climate emergency and food security should be our priority. Enhancing food sovereignty has many advantages. We can reduce food miles, increase local employment and, if implemented properly, it can greatly enhance the sequestration of carbon in our soils. This simply won’t wait until “post-indy”. We need to act now.

Adam Smith famously spoke about “euthanising” the rentier – a grim choice for a metaphor. We just need to make their activities a whole lot more expensive.

Scott Egner
Aberdour