Between now and the start of November I will be working on a book, hopefully to be published in time for Christmas. Sadly, this means the blog will be limited to one or two articles per week. More details to follow.

@Murchie Dave, you are so right. I don't really know Stu Campbell's take on transgender people in general, as it's a subject I've worked very hard to avoid ... well, until now. Like the moral panic over gay and lesbian rights, it's so easy for so many to forget that this involves millions of perfectly good and innocent people. And it is so frustrating that in this 'debate' we presume the right to interrogate the very essence of their personal lives. Never have I been asked to explain my gender or my 'lifestyle.' We just don't seem to learn.

Some will no doubt be aware of my decision to absent myself from Twitter for a while following a particularly noisome exchange after I requested that people be respectful of transgender people, regardless of their opinions. Here are my thoughts on that exchange. randompublicjournal.com/...-to-judge/

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Republic: Separation from the United Kingdom without ditching the monarchy will leave Scotland connected in a powerful emotional way to England, the hegemon of the British state. Only the Republic will free Scottish independence from the trap of mere Home Rule.

@Murchie It does, however nationalism is a package deal that comes with a lot of other stuff - some useful, some toxic. We can't have nationalism without the toxic stuff. It will always fester in the undergrowth, and the good civil nationalism will only ever be seen to legitimise it.

📖 Neither an 'economic case' nor any kind of nationalism can justify independence. At best these are weak foundations for statehood. Our case for independence must be predicated on a comprehensive and cogent articulation of Scotland as a nation and our peoplehood, the only basis on which our right to statehood rests.

@Murchie Independence. A justification of the case already made.