With election pledges dropping through our letterboxes, Herald writer Rosemary Goring offers a rural manifesto

You can set your watch by the prompt departure of local buses from Tweedbank railway station. How impressive, you might think: it’s not only in Italy that public transport runs with military precision. And yes, it is impressive. But it’s also intensely irritating.

Picture the scene: the train from Edinburgh hoves into view. It might even have reached the platform, where it is approaching the buffers at a hearse-like crawl. At that very moment the bus idling by the station concourse - heading for Kelso or Jedburgh or Berwick - closes its doors and pulls away. It’s almost comical. You would be forgiven for wondering if the drivers wait until the last possible moment before departing, to taunt those watching them disappear.

I see this happen several times a week, and it never fails to aggravate. A mere tweak to the bus timetable would mean train passengers could hop onto a bus and get where they’re going without the need for a car, a long wait for the next bus, or an expensive taxi journey. Given the fanfare over the hugely popular Borders Railway which, on its reopening in 2015, represented a major feat of engineering and transport vision, it’s ludicrous that its schedule is not aligned with bus services criss-crossing the region. There’s an irony in humankind reaching the other side of the moon, but the Borders bus network and ScotRail failing to dovetail their services.

Such is the reality of living in rural Scotland. This particular complaint might sound like a niggle, but it feels indicative of a wider malaise. During the run-up to the election, manifesto pledges flutter through the letterbox like confetti. Yet, as parties vie for attention, it is obvious that politicians’ focus........

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