Things are hotting up as we get nearer the election date of 3rd May. Claims and counter-claims appear every day, and letters to the local papers push various policy lines, depending on which party the writer favours. Some are from Independent candidates, making their own points, a few are from individual voters, mostly moaning about the candidates!

I am a member of the Liberal Democrats, and I spent Thursday morning delivering leaflets with a couple of other members. We got quite a large area covered, working as a team. Only one person wanted to talk to the local councillor (one of our team), and he was glad to help with the inquiry.
We have borrowed an office in the town centre, above a local betting shop. It has large windows, which are now covered with large yellow posters for the party and its main candidate.

There are two elections happening: One is for the Scottish Parliament, and the other is for local councillors throughout the country - in our case for the Highland Council. The council voting is new, on a proportional representation basis: you mark candidates in order of preference - 1,2,3,...
The Parliamentary voting is different. There you vote once for your preferred candidate, and secondly you place a vote for your preferred political party. The party votes produce Regional MSPs on a proportional basis, supplementing the directly-elected winning candidate. This gives seats to parties which otherwise might have no outright winners. It works fairly well, giving a voice to smaller parties, and more influence for other major parties. It almost inevitably leads to coalition government, but that is good too, as it restricts any extreme policies as coalition partners won't allow these to go ahead.