Scotland's political parties have now published their manifestos. Here Herald columnist Calum Steele takes a tour through their contents

They are out. No fewer than five hundred and seventy pages representing the cumulative offering from Scotland’s political parties to the electorate have finally been published. Fair play to them at least managing to do so this time around before the postal voting slips began to land in letterboxes and maintaining the pretence that manifestos have any bearing on how folk vote anyway.

How could they? Let’s be honest most of us won’t bother to read them and will take any analysis from someone else’s summary of what they claim to offer. Not only that, we will form our opinion based on our perception of the biases of that commentator – either a stooge, lackey or apparatchik – and of course as will be the case in Scotland for as long as the constitutional question remains, whether the analysis is being provided by a Nat or a Yoon.

A smattering of diehard activists will proclaim their own manifesto like it came from the Mount itself but folk like that are best treated with a healthy suspicion as critical thinking tends not to be something they are blessed with.

You can tell that Reform are new to this manifesto caper as theirs runs to a mere 34 pages – and almost half of them are filled with glossy pictures to pad the thing out. The Greens by comparison have crammed theirs into 168 pages.

Read more by Calum Steele

The SNP's biggest problem is the SNP. Are you listening, Kaukab & co?

The Highlands and Islands really matter. Why can't people see........

© Herald Scotland