A year ago I posted about the treatment being meted out to Kate Forbes in the SNP leadership contest because she is a Christian who actually dares to believe things. A year on and Humza Yousaf has proven to be a disaster and has lost his job as a consequence. The SNP need to find another new leader.
At time of writing, there are no declared candidates. There has been a lot of noise, but for the moment nobody has actually put their name forward.
And already the monstering of Kate Forbes has begun.
As with last time, the tone of that monstering is extremely important, and of extreme concern - because Kate Forbes is being decried as some horrific far-right bigot based on her having expressed what are, ultimately, some fairly mainstream Christian views.
I said before that if Kate Forbes was somehow barred from standing, or was ultimately pressurized into dropping out of the race, then I was done with both the SNP and indeed with independence - I have no interest in voting for a country where every minority is welcomed and respected except for mine.
Unfortunately, things have rather moved on since then; unless and until Yousaf's horrific Hate Crimes legislation is repealed I'm done with Scottish politics as a whole. (That's yet another example of well-meaning but atrociously-drafted legislation from Holyrood. It needs scrapped.)
But, again, if the monstering of Kate Forbes is such that she is somehow barred from standing, or she throws her hat into the ring and is then 'persuaded' to drop out, then there's no way back for the SNP. If she chooses not to run, fine; if she runs and is defeated, fine. But I'm watching them closely, and they are on their absolute last chance - get this wrong, and there's no way back for them.
