Politicians make law and, with an election in mind, now is the time to demand answers from the prospective candidates. Furthermore are the answers thought through or simply politicians’ hot air spouted to show “they are doing something about it”? To answer the complaint that prisoners do not serve the sentence imposed and are let out too early, the Executive has just amended the rules for prisoners serving sentences to require them to spend more time in prison and thereafter be supervised by social workers. Unfortunately no-one noticed that the prisons are so overcrowded at present that they are forced to release prisoners early on tags and thus cannot take any more. Directors of Social Work have for a long time justifiably said there are not enough social workers to meet present requirements. Presumably the Scottish Parliament has a well hidden cache of trained social workers instantly available to meet this new demand as well as a couple of instantly built and manned prisons, otherwise surely no-one would have been so stupid as to pass a law making these necessary?

Are you too getting fed up with the excuse that whatever the problem, it is nothing to do with whoever is in power but the fault of the last lot? If so, are they accepting they are an entirely useless waste of considerable money? What are we paying for if they are incapable of making the necessary changes?

Nor do I accept there has not been time to deal with problems. They found time to deal with the one most urgent and pressing problem that was uppermost on the minds of everyone in the country, ie hunting foxes with dogs.

Many problems are complex and there is no immediate easy answer. If money is to be thrown at it, it is your money and you are entitled to know if you are getting real value. Where is the money to come from and what other budget is to lose?

I have already written about legal aid. Have you tried recently to get a lawyer to take your civil case on legal aid? The problem is still there and will not go away by being ignored by our politicians.

Other matters are even more difficult and are perhaps beyond simple political resolution. If I give you money to buy something and you use it for another purpose, you are a thief. What happened at Christmas with Farepak? Because of company law, no-one can be prosecuted and yet many innocent individuals lost everything. Is this right? I have not seen anything to suggest the company directors have paid for the losses sustained by the business they controlled. Again company law protects them. Is this right? Company law sheltered the individuals responsible for the deaths on the railway at Hatfield. This cannot be right. And yet without the shelter given by the Companies Acts, many businesses would not have been brought into being, the risks taken, investments made and the employment and taxable profits achieved all to the benefit of many. It is interesting to follow the trial in America where it is argued that it is perfectly proper for obscene amounts of money be taken from the business to be spent by, and for the apparent benefit of, the Directors. Where lies the proper balance in the public interests? Has it swung too far away from the public towards the interests of the companies and their directors? Is the public being adequately protected from rapacious companies and/or their management? Maxwell was not challenged when he stole the pension funds. Why not? The result was catastrophic for the pensioners concerned. How do you answer the case where someone dies as a result of the fault of a company? The fine following Hatfield will be paid by the taxpayer. Where is the justice, punishment and discouragement to others from that?

However the fact that an issue is complex is not an excuse to avoid dealing with it and our prospective political masters should be challenged.

If the politicians want our support and vote, they must expect to be asked what they intend to do for us. Each of you will have your own questions. Go and ask them before deciding on which way to vote. They will be your law makers for the next four years.