John Swinney is allowing the trans prisoners row to become an election issue

The SNP echo chamber is so deafening, it's forced Swinney's earwax into his brain.

Good article. It’s jaw-droppingly cruel to lock women up with men. Everyone knows this is such a shit policy. But still it goes on.

Elizabeth Fry’s life work ended up being for nothing.

Agree.

A significant boost for Reform in Scotland though, sadly.

As Wings Over Scotland said in the excellent piece they did Governing For Beginners - "So be careful who you vote for, readers, and try to have a better reason than that they’re “your” team. They’re not, and it isn’t a game."

I genuinely don't understand why he is doggedly pursuing this. Is it because he thinks that people don't really care about women in prison, so it won't lose them that many votes (and will keep the activists happy). Or that tribalism means people will.vote SNP regardless of what they do or how appalling their policies are?

Why else are they going so far out of their way to appease a small bunch of people who almost certainly don't even vote anyway, on such a deeply unpopular bandwagon? They don't need to say anything at all, yet they volunteer to pipe up? It is inexplicable.

I totally agree. He is such a wet lettuce but it feels too deliberate for spinelessness. So many of the SNP MPs come across as just trolling us, the people they are meant to be serving.

Whenever I see men like this, so fervently and deliberately (unnecessarily) banging on about trans rights above women's rights, I always get a mental image of that Little Britain disgraced MP sketch.

Basically I am waiting for the Sunday papers exclusive of "<insert name here> sordid cross dressing sex fetish revealed!" splash report.

Why else are they going so far out of their way to appease a small bunch of people who almost certainly don't even vote anyway, on such a deeply unpopular bandwagon? They don't need to say anything at all, yet they volunteer to pipe up? It is inexplicable.

Is there anything those of us outside Scotland can do?

No just watch and weep, those of us in Wales would be in the same position if it weren't for the fact we don't have a women's prison, we send them over the boarder to England. A dereliction of duty for those politicians who want to claim we're an independent kingdom.

I think he reckons this stance might lose him some votes but the majority of SNP voters will vote for them anyway as they would otherwise be politically homeless, are unaware or don't care about enough about this issue. He can then claim a mandate to continue with this policy. Much, iirc, the GR self ID was pursued because of a single line in the SNP's manifesto which, they claimed, meant Scottish voters were all for it.

Anything done by outside Scotland will only entrench the SNP and their supporters further.