What is wrong with people who take to the internet to abuse others? Hiding behind the perceived safety of anonymity, these cowards hurl insults and threats they would never have the backbone to even form into coherent thoughts if faced with their victims face to face.
Often, it’s a wee bit personal but not in the least bit harmful.
But there is the dark misogynistic abuse which, sadly unsurprisingly, has often been targeted at female politicians like Nicola Sturgeon, Kezia Dugdale and Ruth Davidson. The Scottish Tory leader has also had to deal with sickening homophobia, which has no place in the 21st Century.
Add to that death threats doled out to journalists and we’re dealing with a pretty unhinged bunch of idiots, who could do with seeing sunlight, rather than bashing away angrily with the caps lock on and the curtains closed.
Thankfully, none of these people will ever get the chance to have any meaningful say in public life outwith their own little echo chamber, right?
Wrong. You see, it emerged this week that Edinburgh South SNP candidate Neil Hay used an anonymous account to insult rivals while he was officially running the Yes campaign in that area.
Using the Twitter name Paco McSheepie, he hurled derision at elderly voters for “barely knowing their own name”.
He also likened No voters to Nazis by calling them “Quislings” after reviled collaborator Vidkun Quisling, who headed the puppet Norwegian government during the Second World War.
This so-called man could become an MP.
Yet Hay, who only ditched the pseudonym he chose to hide behind after he got caught, has not been sacked as a candidate by his party.
That is a disgrace. Nicola Sturgeon who deserves a lot of credit for the way she regularly publicly condemns online abuse has got this one wrong, I’m afraid.
She hit back by pointing to an online slur by Labour activist Ian Smart, who called the SNP “fascist scum”.
Smart is way out of line here and deserves to be condemned.
He’s not a candidate, though. He hasn’t been put forward by his party to represent all the people of a constituency. “All” is the crucial word there.
Abusive keyboard warriors who slip through the selection process net and on to ballot papers should be decisively scored out by their party.
Bothe Labour and the Conservatives took part in a penalty shoot-out to help the magnificent campaign by Fife man Gordon Aikman for extra funding for motor neurone disease (MND) research and care.
Former Labour researcher Gordon, who has MND, is an inspiration and the football event was more about raising awareness than who won.
That didn’t stop worries about Dundee-based MSP Jenny Marra as she stepped up to take her spot kick, though. “I thought it was going to be a career-ender,” said one Labour bod. Thankfully for the shadow health secretary, she tucked her penalty away and her team won.
It’s not quite as good news for Jenny’s brother Michael on the campaign trail, though. As he campaigns to try and win Dundee West, it seems his team forgot about the digital revolution.
His name has not been added to the Dundee Labour website, although he has set up his own Facebook page, which has been “liked” by his party’s official set up on the same site.
I’m sure he’d insist that chapping on doors is much more important!
That’s notto say it’s all plain sailing for the SNP locally. I’m told a constituent, noticing Lochee Leisure Centre was closed, popped into Nationalist candidate Chris Law’s office to ask if he knew when the facility would be operational once more.
Apparently, the conversation went thus: “Excuse me, do you know when Lochee Baths will be open again?” Reply: “Where are they?”
Alas, they’re very close to the Nationalist candidate’s office. A mere 285ft, in fact if you trust Google Maps.
WE’VE TALKED about bad Twitter but Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson never fails to deliver on the funny side of sledging your opponents on social media.
It all started when Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: “The SNP say: ‘If you hold the balance, then you hold the power’. They’d hold Ed Miliband to ransom. You can stop this by voting Conservative.”
Cue angry Jim Murphy reply: “You have demeaned the Office of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to become a desperate cheerleader for the SNP.”
Ruth weighed in to simply ask: “You OK, hun?” Game, set and match.