‘The SNP increasingly comes off as one of the most illiberal parties in western Europe. It has turned Scotland into a laboratory of authoritarian ideas. From minimum pricing on alcohol (that is, sin taxes) to the mad Named Persons scheme that would have assigned every child born in Scotland a state overseer, from the policing and censorship of ‘offensive’ chants at football matches to a new hate-speech bill that stipulates that even playwrights could be arrested for writing ‘hateful’ material, Scotland has become a hotbed of reactionary, censorious thinking. The shaming and harassment of Sarah Smith is in keeping with this puritanical outlook.
Smith was right. People with their heads screwed on can see that. It strikes many of us that Sturgeon is relishing in her ability to break off from England when it comes to the nature of the lockdown, and in continuing to enforce a strict, onerous lockdown north of the border. After all, mangling freedom is what the SNP does best.’
Read More: Nicola Sturgeon is turning into a demagogue
