The latest edition of the Liberal-Democrats' 'election special' freesheet Edinburgh North & Leith News contains the following thought-provoking article which we quote in full:
Otterly Fantastic
A baby otter has been photographed living on the Water of Leith.
Otter boffins say that the sightings are a good indication that the river is healthier now than it was in the 1960s when otters disappeared from the Water of Leith because of pollution.
That's it. Yes, in its entirety. There is no more.
'Election boffins' consulted by the Spurtle offer numerous reasons for the appearance of this piece (which omits even a token effort to claim credit for the creature's existence or to get local candidate Dan Farthing to kiss it on camera), none of which is complimentary.
The two-sentence article is, in short, utterly, otterly pathetic.
Unfortunately, it is also typical of other mainstream parties' irrational, misspelt, ungrammatical and poorly designed tabloid ephemera. Hats off, then, to the Conservatives who – at least in this corner of Broughton – have so far failed to distribute anything at all!
Holyrood communication strategists appear to share a mistaken assumption that we – the lumpen electorate – are unable to sustain a political thought of more than 138 words, and that fobbing us of with any old puff next to a picture of a smiling candidate, or a baby otter, will be enough. It is not.
The Scottish Parliament was meant to be about more: about extending political inclusion, about principled, innovative, consensual and pragmatic thinking appropriate to a small and ambitious nation – not the failed, unimaginative, tribal cynicism of yesteryear.
Politicians of all persuasions urgently need to raise their game.