Before the election I wrote a piece for The Times describing my journey from dyed-in-the-wool unionist to tentative nationalist. Although what grumblings I had were mainly from unionists, one person took exception to my allowing my mixed Scottish-English ancestry, which informed my vote in 2014, to interfere with what he saw as his country’s right to self-determination. After a constructive exchange of views, we signed off with a Twitter handshake and agreement to talk again.
It got me thinking. I refuse to accept that most of us aren’t still capable of having vigorous debate and polite disagreements without insulting each other. We are united by our love of Scotland, albeit with very different views about its future. How, I wonder, can we find a way