The ugly face of the SNP

Earlier today a "Good SNP member" tweeted

"Ruth Davidson is not welcome here. She is not welcome anywhere in civilised Scottish society."

That kind of attitude to people with different views is what should not be welcome in any party which aspires to be part of a civilised democracy.

Ruth, who has a sense of humour and is used to this sort of thing, replied

"Ah, the warm embrace of soft, cuddly civic nationalism, I've missed your tender touch."

If the SNP fail and the United Kingdom is still in existence in fifty years' time, it will be because so many nationalists - not all - have such an unpleasant contempt for anyone who does not share their views.

The temptation to treat people of different views as quasi-human is a problem for any group of people with very strong beliefs and all political parties including my own suffer from this to at least some degree.

But the SNP, in my experience, suffer from this problem to a greater degree than any party other than some of those on the crypto-fascist extreme right or Trotskyist left. Indeed, when at University I met some people way outside the political mainstream who were more tolerant of opposing views than elements of the SNP are.

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