David Halliday

OK I'll bite. If you use the powers of the nation state to create a nasty, insular, impoverished country that is hostile to foreigners, and I want the powers of a nation state to leave and join a broader union of nations then yes, my nationalism *is* better than your nationalism.

Seems like this story should be getting more attention…

@christo97428426 So? That is *exactly* the point. It is an issue which has nothing to with left/right divides and which everyone seems quite happy to accept cannot possibly be used as some kind of general a litmus test for identifying bigots and racists.

@DavidJFHalliday It was a free vote across party lines.

Last night, Nicola Sturgeon voted against legalising assisted suicide. So did Reform's Graham Simpson so obviously Nicola Sturgeon should take a good look at the company she is keeping and is a bigot and very possibly a racist. If I am understanding how these things work now.

Ruth Maguire (SNP), who is stepping down as an MSP due to a cancer diagnosis: “I find it really hard to put into words the impact that the language of dignity and compassion being used to talk about ending life has had on me—as if somehow wishing to carry on but with help is undignified and burdensome, unfair to people who love me… “My blood runs cold thinking about sitting in a room in a hospital and having a doctor raise that with me as we weigh up treatment options… “If it weighs so heavily on me, someone in a position of financial privilege, with a large loving family who are able to care for each other—indeed, someone whose job it’s been for 10 years to have difficult conversations… I want colleagues to see how this all plays out for people who don’t have the privilege that we have. “And in doing so, let’s have our eyes open to the strain our health and social care systems are under.”

Hi Monica, with respect the bill does not contain robust safeguards - here’s what it lacks compared to other jurisdictions. We would also urge you to consider this warning from domestic abuse expert Isabelle Kerr: “Busy doctors won’t be able to provide a satisfactory level of oversight, and even the best attempts to spot coercion will lead to cases being missed through human error. “MSPs need to realise that coercion will occur under an assisted dying law. In my view, the question is who will be coerced to die, and how many such deaths will be missed by professionals.” Please reflect carefully on this. Even if you support the principle of assisted death, this bill is full of holes. It is a noble thing for a politician to consider flaws and change their mind.

Remember when they told you Israel doesn’t deliberately target hospitals and medics in Gaza, and the media dutifully repeated their justifications?

"It looks as if the impact on civilians is going to dramatically worsen in the coming hours and days." Nicholas Noe, editor-in-chief of Mideastwire, says Israel’s strategy in Lebanon appears to be aimed at targeting civilian infrastructure while fuelling sectarian divisions.

Over the years I’ve been in many towns and cities when they were being bombed — in a few cases (Baghdad, Belgrade etc) by my own country. No matter what the justification, most of the victims have been entirely innocent. I’ve come to loathe the very thought of aerial bombardment.

Anorexic young women may be collateral damage for ardent supporters of the McArthur Bill, but the public doesn’t think like that. MSPs really need to reflect on what they are being asked to ignore

🚨IS THIS THE MOMENT THE SCOTTISH ASSISTED SUICIDE BILL DIED? MSPs have voted to remove conscientious objection, after it was ruled out of Holyrood’s scope. The Bill now contains NO protections for healthcare professionals. Surely MSPs cannot support the Bill at its final vote?

Age is a protected characteristic in the Equality Act. It is unlawful to treat someone differently due to their #age, however the Equality Act also outlines some circumstances when being treated differently is lawful. Understand your rights: orlo.uk/53HGq

"...there was no real evidence of these systems reducing crime and...they allow governments to monitor...opponents, arrest protesters and lead journalists to self-censor." Governments exploit fear to get us to agree to mass surveillance? Who knew? theguardian.com/global-develop…

The price of oil goes up and down by which I mean it never goes up and even if it does go up that's only in times of international tension and that never happens and even if it does it'd be wicked to take advantage and anyway it's running out which means there's none left.

I mean you may not like utility companies but give them their due they seem to manage to struggle on and make a decent profit even though the price of gas goes up and down. I don't know how they manage it. Hats off to them.

Leaving everything else aside, I'm not sure that even the most optimistically gung-ho in Japan's government would have suggested that the US might agree to start negotiating again a week later.

One of the reasons the US viewed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour as such perfidious treachery was that the US thought it was involved in ongoing negotiations with Japan at the time of the attack.

Why are the world's great powers so obsessed with oil? Did they miss the warning of Scottish unionists that it's running out and the price goes up and down and so they should base their economies on something immutable and free from shock, such as banking and financial services?

Only 4 more Members of the Scottish Parliament need to flip to kill the Scottish State Suicide Bill. This is a once in a generation moment to protect vulnerable Scots from suicide STOP THIS BILL!

The state tries to persuade us to give up our rights so it can protect us from the threats it tells us that AI poses us. But the the biggest threat that AI poses us is the state using it freed from concern with our rights. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

@voshmosh I found everyone was a miserable scold. Even innocuous posts would elicit really deranged responses and the timeline was full of people saying incredibly dumb and annoying things constantly. The vibes are super bad.