THE Scottish Government's approach to collecting tax has come under scrutiny.

It would appear that many of those whose names had deliberately not been listed on the electoral roll decided to register to vote in the independence referendum, and had not, in fact, payed their poll tax. Oops.

Our First Minister, himself a former anti-poll tax campaigner, stepped into the argument and said councils should not seek to recover these debts.

They were, he said, historical, and the Scottish Government would step into the breach to pay councils in order to write off the debts. Oops.

Not sure whether these two wrongs end up as a right.

Opposition parties have been quick to seize on the First Minister's opinion, challenging the integrity of the Scottish Government and labelling the plan a tax dodger's charter.

Some £425 million of poll tax debts remain outstanding.

Why would we not pursue those debts, particularly from those who could afford to pay but simply haven't?

Those of the Missing Million who demanded that their democratic voice be heard in the referendum should accept their democratic responsibility to pay their way.

Could it be that they were voting for a different kind of Scotland, one in which you pay no tax?

Councils should be free to pursue those who did not pay.

The poll-tax was grossly unfair, but it was grossly unfair to all of us.

But any tax system which lets off those who didn't pay punishes all those who did.

OUR Armed Forces are changing. A smaller number of full-time professionals will be bolstered by an increased number of part-time reservists.

The transition into this new model of Armed Forces has not been smooth, and we are currently struggling to recruit sufficient numbers.

This new, cheaper army needs recruits and the current advertising campaign certainly makes life in the Forces look very attractive.

Tales of camaraderie and adventure, the opportunity of apprenticeships, the lure of seeing the world.

Of course, the adverts are aimed at young people, often the very young.

I have great admiration for our Armed Forces and have worked with colleagues from all three major services at close quarters.

They need new Scottish recruits and I would not deny them.

The adverts however, should come with a health warning.

In the last 10 years, Britain has been involved in campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In these campaigns almost 450 personnel were killed, and some 2000 were wounded in action.

Hundreds of our soldiers became amputees, while thousands more were injured and became ill, not forgetting those who were badly psychologically damaged.

If these statistics were a consequence of the advertising of alcohol or smoking we would ban them.

Seductive adverts which gloss over the reality and the facts have no place in sensible future recruitment to our Forces.

We demand the highest standards of honesty and integrity from our Armed Forces. The very least we can do is attract its new recruits on the same basis.

THE death of Brenda Leyland left me with a sense of deep shock. Brenda had anonymously sent thousands of Tweets, mainly directed against the parents of missing Madeline McCann.

The majority of her Tweets showed menace and anger and were very offensive.

As part of a Sky News investigation a reporter confronted Brenda Leyland on her doorstep.

She was clearly very surprised, indeed distressed, at being publicly exposed.

There are very few of us who would condone Brenda's actions on Twitter, the abuse in which she participated, nor the language that she used.

There are even fewer, however, who would not express our utter astonishment when Brenda was found dead in a room at a local hotel.

Twitter abuse and cyber bullying are completely out of control.

Some form of registration scheme or device signature needs to be built in to remove anonymity and protect people, often from themselves.

This sorry episode left me wondering just who was the real victim in this case?