Thread of my short #SNP20 speech - The British Government are pressing ahead with their constitutional priorities regardless of the current pandemic. Brexit has happened and our parliament is under attack.

Whilst our Scottish Government is rightly focused on Covid, we must act quickly to protect our democracy.
To those who say that a referendum can happen only once in a generation I say there is nowhere that is written in stone. Not in the Edinburgh Agreement. Not in the Smith Commission.
The Northern Ireland Act provides that there need only be 7 years between border polls on the question of Irish reunification. 
 
Even allowing for the very different context, why should it be any different for Scotland?
With respect to devolution 18 years passed between the 1979 and 1997 referendums. During that time a majority in favour of devo was ignored by the Tories for more than a decade. That alone should give pause for thought to those who say we don’t need a Plan B
If we win the Scottish election next year then it would be positively Trumpian for Boris Johnson to veto #indyref2 However, if ever any UK leader was capable of Trumpian behaviour then its Johnson.
So, it makes sense for us to think about what we should do if he continues to veto #indyref2.
January’s national assembly will be very important but it will also be vital that the new NEC appoints a working group to develop and take forward that assembly’s ideas.
It is policy and planning that will win the prize of independence. Once the independence campaign proper begins a searing focus will be turned upon our plans for the economy, trade relations with the rest of the UK and the process of re-joining the EU.
So we must have clear answers. 
A huge amount of policy thinking has been done in our universities & by Common Weal, Business for Scotland & the Scottish Independence Convention. It needs to be pulled together and packaged for consumption by the voters.
There’s a lot of work to be done so let’s make sure our new NEC gets started on it and frees up our FM and her government to get on with tackling the Covid crisis whilst we plan for the independent future that will follow. #indyref2

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This is partly what makes it impossible to have a constructive conversation nowadays. The stubborn refusal to accept that opposition to Trumpism and GOP nationalism is about more than simply holding different beliefs about things in and of itself. 👇


It's fine for people to hold different beliefs. But that doesn't mean all beliefs deserve equal treatment or tolerance and it doesn't mean intolerance of some beliefs makes a person intolerant of every belief which they don't share.

So if I said I don't think Trumpism deserves to be tolerated because it's just a fresh 21st century coat of cheap paint on a failed, dangerous 20th century ideology (fascism) that doesn't mean I'm intolerant of all beliefs with which I disagree. You'd think this would be obvious.

Another important facet. People who support fascist movements tend to give what they think are valid reasons for supporting them. That doesn't mean anyone is obliged to tolerate fascism or accept their proffered excuse.


Say you joined a neighborhood group that sets up community gardens and does roadside beautification projects. All good, right? Say one day you're having a meeting and you notice the President and exec board of this group are saying some bizarre things about certain neighbors.

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