Last week was a peculiar one – a melting pot of bipolar conversations with people I either do not know calling me a Tory or people I do know laughing at me.
The reason for this uproar was a column I wrote for this newspaper predicting a Conservative majority on December 12.
What followed was a verbal annihilation on social media – the graveyard of nuance.
Apparently, if you predict a Conservative majority, it makes you a Tory.
To those who know me, however, it led to several explosive bursts of laughter.
It was an absurd notion given my two previous columns eviscerated the flagship welfare policy of the Conservative Party, resulting in a letter to the Tele which read: “Mr Gurr’s extreme liberal views continue to blight this newspaper and irritate like a nasty rash.”
If I am an extreme liberal one week and a Tory the next, it might indicate I am in the right place.
As one uncouth but astute friend at my local hostelry in the Hilltown said: “F*** sake Ewan, calling you a Tory is like calling Hitler a socialist.”
I will admit though, the error I might have made was not stating how I intend to vote in an opinion piece written about how I think the country will vote.
There was a good reason for that because, the truth is, I do not know how I intend to vote.
I am an independence-supporting Brexiteer who believes in the notion of democratic decision-making power being in the hands of the people.
I therefore believe, rightly or wrongly, in being politically independent from both Brussels and Westminster.
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Last week, I stated that the forthcoming general election is a Brexit election.
In the most recent survey by Ipsos Mori, 57% of people said Brexit was the most important political issue with no other topic gaining more than 3% support.
While I feel the domestic agenda has been forsaken for too long, resolution on Brexit is crucial.
So, here is my political dilemma, in order of projected electoral success in Scotland.
Do I vote for the SNP, whose position on Scottish independence and domestic agenda I broadly support but with whom I do not align on Brexit?
Do I vote for the Conservatives, whose position on independence and domestic agenda I do not align with but whose Brexit position I broadly support?
Do I vote for the Liberal Democrats, who I agree with on absolutely nothing and who have the most liberal definition of democracy I have ever come across?
Do I vote for Labour, whose domestic agenda I broadly support but with whom I disagree on independence and whose position on Brexit I do not understand?
I do not intend to vote for either the Brexit Party or the Green Party.
For someone who believes in democratic decision-making, making a democratic decision is really hard.
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