THE SNP's opponents are understandably desperate to make the most of the rare opportunity presented by Michelle Thomson's possible transgressions in her property dealings ("Thomson reported to sleaze watchdog", The Herald, October 7). I don't blame them for that, but I am confident that any resultant damage to the SNP will, in the long run, be negligible.

The partisan demands of those baying for blood unearth what is to me a more cerebral issue, namely the apparently mysterious levels of communication between the Crown Office and the Law Society. We are told that the Law Society twice raised the case of Ms Thomson's solicitor, Christopher Hales, “informally” with the Crown Office, before eventually submitting a formal report. Personally, I am more concerned about the implications and consequences of informal, as opposed to formal, reporting in a serious legal context, than about the questionable morality of one elected politician.

Iain Stuart,

34 Oakbank Crescent, Perth.