THE cynicism of our major politicians never, ever fails to amaze me.

Not even Gordon Brown, a politician in whom I've had faith for a long time, escapes.

For the best part of a year he has been ploughing his own narrow furrow at No10 and has shown precious little care for us, the ordinary people who put him and his party for power for so long.

Now he gets a bloodied nose at the elections in England. And what's his response? All of a sudden, he says he feels our pain'.

Reader Poll Should the Scottish Government step in to ban supermarket plastic bags? Yes 60.5% No 36.8% Don't know 2.6%

More, he is to come up with policies that will help families struggling with rising prices and the credit crunch.

Does Mr Brown take us for idiots? Can't he see that his words will be seen purely for what they are - as an opportunistic response to bad news at the polls?

If Mr Brown had voiced an iota of compassion for the ordinary voter over the last year, we would have heeded his new message. As it is, we just think of him as another panicky politician saying the first thing that comes into his head in a bid to turn his own fortunes around.

DISILLUSIONED LABOUR VOTER, Partick

Shipbuilding debate

NICOLA STURGEON MP and I have debated the issue of shipbuilding on the Clyde many times and I still remain very sceptical about the comparisons she makes with other shipbuilding nations.

She now makes comparisons with Norway, an old SNP favourite, but the Aker yards in Norway mostly build offshore vessels.

The Norwegians were among the first to acquire Shipyards in low-cost Eastern Europe and Brazil to build their ships where labour costs were lower and even then most of the industry has failed to turn in a profit in recent years. In addition to that the Norwegians use subcontractors to build their ships, employing particularly Polish and Lithuanian workers.

Is this the ambition Nicola Sturgeon has for the Clyde?

Only by retaining the buying power of the UK's defence needs will jobs be protected on the Clyde

CLLR ALISTAIR WATSON, Glasgow City Council

Landlord registration

THE landlord registration scheme is here to make the executive and local council(s) money and nothing else. It's nonsense to suggest it's rooting out rogue landlords.

SLAM, Glasgow

Bridge renovation

GOOD news about the renovation of Paisley's Abbey Bridge. I wonder though if they'll remove the U2' logo I painted underneath it 20 years ago?

BIG AL, Paisley

Just the ticket

HAVING just returned from a wee break on Arran, I wanted to say a big thank you for the Bjorn Again tickets that I won a few weeks ago.

The gig, in aid of the Anthony Nolan Trust, was fantastic fun and very busy. The Arran Aromatics hamper was gorgeous! Thanks again.

LOUISE CROCKERT, Via e-mail

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Prison is no place for city graffiti artist

PEOPLE like this could be given community service and made to clean up the graffiti.

Prison should be reserved for violent thugs, sex offenders and housebreakers.

RENEGADE, Cyberspace

Make him clean up mess

THE government is trying to reduce the prison population, I would have thought a more sensible sentence would have been handed out e.g., cleaning up any mess made.

He is not a threat to the public so why give full board and lodgings. at the taxpayers' expense?

JKR, Lochwinnich

Community benefits

SPOT-ON JKR, - also, this boy's talent could have been put to good use doing community service.

VICTOR MELDREW, Condorrat

An unjust sentence

I DON'T think the punishment fits the crime and is probably the reason people have started a campaign as they feel this is an unjust sentence. Surely prison is for people who pose a threat to society?

Every day we hear of people who assault, maim and scare innocent members of the public getting lesser sentences than this. Surely this is not right, as it sends out the message that property, such as trains and walls, are valued more by society than the people within that society.

HUGO, South Side

Make him serve his time

I HOPE he serves the full sentence, as he got off pretty lightly in the first place.

JRB, Glasgow

Games graffiti irony

IT'S funny how all the "clean up the city" campaign came around at the time of Glasgow's Commonwealth Games bid! No one seemed to care before.

Underneath the Kingston Bridge, on the south side of the river, there is council-backed sports-style graffiti promoting the games. How ironic!

BRIAN JAMIESON, East Kilbride

Jail is not the solution

IT pains me to see how in the UK we lock up so many young people and for so long.

This is not character building, as some people would advocate, but merely creates a new generation of re-offenders.

MICHAEL, Surrey