Nicola Sturgeon throws Joanna Cherry under the bus

I think you are on the spot there. Maybe the SNP hasn’t changed much where you live. In the cities it certainly has.

I think she must have someone trusted whispering in her ear.

I think it’s weird that sturgeon doesn’t condem the abuse that both Joanna and Joan get from within her own party

It’s really confusing

Joanna had to hav3 police protection but some tra leave the party and she takes time to make a video

I'm not sure how old you are Arabella but my understanding is that the SNP moved to the left in the mid 70s with the election of Margot MacDonald who was a wonderful socialist feminist politician representing one of the most deprived areas of Scotland

From what I saw Sarah was attempting to draw analogies about the culture of intolerance and the conditions it needs to thrive which of course in the 1930's onwards lead to the persecution of Jewish people.

I think the most she could be accused of is lacking sensitivity because Twitter is not a place of nuance or somewhere you can explore historical parallels with full context. I can understand it if some people felt her attempts were flippant and not respectful but it's not the same as anti-semitism in my opinion.

If you remember when Rosa Freedman called out a TRA for doing pretty much this and appropriating the Holocaust for their argument it was in fact her and a female Plaid Cymru MP who were strongly criticised sent threatening abusive tweets and messages for saying it was antisemitic! To go all DM, you couldn't make it up!

economists (even their own) agree we’d face at least a decade of severe austerity if we were daft enough to vote for independence.

We face that anyway, thanks to Brexit, which as most know the Scottish people didn't want.

I'm really unsure about independence now. The SNP seem disastrously badly run and I find the internal machinations really concerning, despite NS' consummate performances.

But a future tied to a rUK outwith Europe and weighed down by an equally disastrously incapable Tory govt is also not a rosy picture.

Devil; deep blue sea. Here we are.

I dont know masses about the history of the SNP, but when I was a kid they were the 'Tartan Tories', pretty stodgy, vaguely rightwing and traditionalists.

They've reinvented themselves under Sturgeon as a super progressive liberal party who lay claim to the fountain of youth, but despite this shiny new face the largest part of their membership retains people from Salmond's era and before.

This seems to be all about inner schisms of the SNP - that vid of the FM's was appealing to one sect, the TRA subject is just a flag waved at certain sectors of the party.

I mean, NS doesn't really give much of a fuck about nonbinary rights, let's not kid ourselves. NS wants independence, wants to look progressive, wants to polish the appearance of Scotland as a young nation. It's signalling, that's all.

I daresay some of the people leaving are just seeing through how the trans/GRA issue is being used as a political trophy. There's not actually any conviction behind it for most career politicians.

Looking at it like this, I actually empathise with one of the TRAs ranting on Twitter last night - who can see quite clearly how this issue is being used.

Well, those who are against independence have nothing to fear now.

How does anyone imagine people as narcissistic and fragile as the wokey faction are going to lead a struggle against the British state?

I think the PPs who say Sturgeon is chasing the youth vote are bang on the money. Older sensible taxpayers with mortgages can see exactly how much worse off we’d be in an independent banana republic with a massive deficit and no UK trading partner willing to keep bailing us out.
None of the SNP can legitimately claim to be acting in Scotland’s interests, since economists (even their own) agree we’d face at least a decade of severe austerity if we were daft enough to vote for independence.
Sturgeon’s refusal to defend women’s rights, for mere political expediency, is despicable. And exactly what I have come to expect from her and her divisive party of separatists.

I've never thought twice about voting for the SNP or independence, Imean completely torn now. I don't think I can in good conscience now when I have to depend on Westminster to protect womens sex based rights.

I think the statement came out of a state of panic. It MUST be about a fear of losing the youth vote? I’m not on Twitter anymore because I can’t stand the manufactured rows and the level of ‘argument’.

But this is odd. Of course no one wants any group of people to be denied rights or be victimised but why is the FM seemingly ignoring the majority of women within her party who just want to ring fence some protections for women as per the Equality Act 2010? Why is this interpreted as anti-trans. The amendments to the Hate Crime Bill have been suggested so that the discussions can take place around these rights without fear of being criminalised - and this has been interpreted as ‘transphobes’ wanting to persecute the transgender community?! Why does it always have to descend into this mess of teeth-gnashing and wailing? The histrionics are staggering. And then of course all the Ultra right-wing, objectionable, homophobes and racists see it as an opportunity to stick the boot in and then the hard-of-thinking lump all the people wanting respectful dialogue about women’s rights in with them. And round and round it goes.

I’m disappointed with NS. This does nothing but alienate huge swathes of her female electorate. I voted for SNP after being a Labour voter all my adult life. I cannot bring myself to vote SNP in this climate. Show some compassion and understanding of the subtleties of this issue - at least have some dialogue with ForWomen Scotland and show you’re giving this issue proper, thoughtful consideration and aren’t just responding to the crowd that’s shouting loudest.

Also see recent departure of Mridul Wadhwa, (transwoman who runs Rape Crisis centre), from SNP to the greens. That was over the Lamont amendment, asserting the right of females to ask for a female forensic examiner after rape.

The SNP is a 'hub of transphobia' according to recently departed women's officer Teddy Hope.

Who thinks the SNP is transphobic, anyway? It seems to be trans ahoy!

Surely it wasn't so much what NS said - which was reasonably enough - but what she didn't say. Context is everything, and it came across to me as an appeasement to the TRAs and a slap in the face for Joanna Cherry and all the women who have concerns about trans activism. Basically implies we're transphobes.

I saw earlier that Cherry is the second most abused female politician on Twitter after Diane Abbot and the SNP leadership have done nothing to support her through this time. No videos have been made in support of women who have been verbally and physically abused at the hands of TRAs in their party. No apologies, nothing.

This. Nobody ever seems to pipe up in favour of women. They can't do it. Its as if they're physically incapable. Death & rape threats, fine. Women leaving LAbour, the SNP, the Greens, in droves, all fine.

A dozen TRAs say they're leaving and it's instant personally recorded 'unscripted'* messages from the FM? It's almost as if they know which demographic are on a hair-trigger of flipping from one party to another over a single issue, and which are more likely to stick with parties because of long-term thinking or a view of the bigger picture, isn't it?

Throwing yourself at the feet of such a fickle lot while blanking the massive bulk of your party's core voters is ... well, it's a novel tactic, I'll say that.

From what I saw Sarah was attempting to draw analogies about the culture of intolerance and the conditions it needs to thrive which of course in the 1930's onwards lead to the persecution of Jewish people.

I think the most she could be accused of is lacking sensitivity because Twitter is not a place of nuance or somewhere you can explore historical parallels with full context. I can understand it if some people felt her attempts were flippant and not respectful but it's not the same as anti-semitism in my opinion.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4147000-Sarah-Phillimore-suspended-from-twitter?msgid=104083067#104083067

Why aren't half the Corbynistas thrown off Twitter for their adoration of the antisemitic cult. Or does the magic phrase TWAW save you.

Saw that. Guessing she has taken the view that every vote counts in the imminent referendum and she'd rather grab the cult vote than explain why it's an unscientific cult.

This is astonishing. A businesswoman was thrown out of this morning's online meeting of the Scottish Government National Advisory Council on Women and Girls for asking questions about the provision of single sex spaces and impact assessments of policies affecting women and girls

I saw this - I didn’t realise that Nicola was actually part of the meeting!

Do we know exactly how this businesswoman was ejected - did they tell her or pretend technical difficulties? Presumably Nicola heard the question - have we any way of finding out if she decided to ignore it?

What I hope happened was that Nicola heard and noted the question and responded positively that she realises it is v important and specific measures are being looked at to address this. I fear this will not be the case ...

Does anyone know if there is a recording of this meeting anywhere - there may be if it is a public body. It would be interesting to see.