Where our taxes go

There was an extraordinary series of articles in yesterday's Scotsman about Helen Liddell, the Secretary of State for Scotland. This woman costs us a lot of money. What exactly is she for?

She draws the same £125,000-a-year salary as Gordon Brown, the Chancellor. But what does she do?

The Scottish Executive has taken over the Scotland Office’s real powers. The result is a shell, and three very important constitutional questions: what does it do? Will it be abolished? And what would replace it?

Ms Liddell (known in Scotland as "Stalin's Granny") issued a series of complaints about the Scotsman newspaper, including objections to letters to the editor!

Since the establishment of the Scottish parliament there is no real role for the Scottish Secretary It is ludicrous for Ms Liddell (earning the same as the Chancellor of the Exchequer) to waste her time and our money spinning against a newspaper. She should be fired and her job abolished.