The Sticking Point

I should preface what I'm about to say by stating that I disagree with just about everything Kate Forbes said at the start of this week. I do believe that the GRR bill is fatally flawed, but that's a matter of detail rather than intention. (I do also think, though am not certain, that the UK government it legally in the right with their challenge, but that's another matter.) However, I'm inclined to the view that legislating for equal marriage was one of the very few good things that David Cameron actually did in office, and that the corresponding law in Scotland was equally good. And so on and so forth.

However, the treatment that has been meted out to Kate Forbes as a result of that has been disgraceful. And make no mistake, despite John Swinney's claims to the contrary it was entirely about her Christian beliefs - if Forbes wasn't the candidate then none of this would even have been raised, and the media simply wouldn't dare to grill Humza Yousaf over his Muslim faith in anything like the same terms as they've handled Forbes.

The upshot of all of that is this: there is now, I have no doubt, significant pressure being applied to Kate Forbes to 'persuade' her to drop out of the race. I have no doubt that there is equally significant pressure being applied to those who might back her to withdraw their nominations.

But here's the thing: If Kate Forbes is forced out of the race due to her Christian beliefs, the SNP will never again see another vote from me.

If she stands and loses, then that's absolutely fine - that's democracy in action. But she needs to be allowed to stand.

And that goes for voting for independence, too. I want no part of a modern, tolerant, inclusive Scotland in which every religious minority is welcome, except one. And where we only throw Christians to metaphorical lions.

Day 51: Update on Goals

We're already more than 50 days into the new year, so it's time for an update:

• Books: I have managed all of five books this year, which would be a fairly poor showing (especially as almost all of them are RPG books), except that that isn't a stated goal this year. Maybe next year... Of the stated goal, I have completed one of the three books that were outstanding at the turn of the year. Even that isn't an unalloyed win - that book was well in progress at the start of the year. Still, I am just about on target for this goal.
• Blogging: By rights, this should be the sixteenth or seventeenth post of the year, rather than the tenth. Needless to say, I'm already well behind. Luckily, there isn't much going on that's blog-worthy, he said with a wry chuckle. I'll need to do some work to catch up on this one. On the plus-side, the Imaginarium has eight posts, which is surprisingly good.
• Redecorating: No progress to report, except that we had a dishwasher fitted last week. The main takeaway from that is that we should have bought one five years ago. I think I have now settled on a specific set of tasks for this one: get the hall carpet replaced, hang some more pictures in the hallway, break Surprise!'s cot down into a bed for him, and repaint the parts of the two bathrooms that are actually painted. That's not a huge amount, but it's also the right set, I think.
• Other stuff: It's looking very much like our planned refresh of all our IT kit won't wait until Summer as had been planned - the PC on which I'm typing this is very much on its last legs, while LC's laptop is becoming ever-more creaky. So those may well be updated in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, we've been in the process of booking our holidays for Easter and Summer - one is all done, the other is in progress. So those are two things to look forward to.

My expectation is that all three goals will complete at, or close to, target. Largely because they're not a hugely ambitious set. But we'll see.

#4: "Tome of Beasts III Lairs", from Kobold Press
#5: "Paranormal Power", by Rachel Williamson