🧵 ‘Stop the world. Scotland wants to get on’ rings in the heart of every SNP member. Winnie Ewing understood that a Scotland engaged in a messy world could help make the place a bit tidier. Like the state Winnie wanted Scotland to be, we in the SNP aspire to be a Scotland that’s a global problem solver on everything from war and peace, to energy and climate change. In 8 words, Winnie made the case for diplomacy and engagement that is as relevant today as in 1967.

🧵 A particularly personal and nasty little letter about me in the pages of today’s National, coming hot on the heels of a few days of their own misleading coverage of my comments about how we debate - or, rather, don’t debate - policy in the party. The letter from Isobel Lindsay - a long-standing CND and SNP activist - refers to me having a “pro-trident” position. I have never been pro-trident. I have only ever argued, written and voted against trident - indeed I forced the last parliamentary vote against it.

💥 In a letter to me late last week, the MoD has finally admitted that UK Special Forces were able to veto their Afghan counterparts coming by to the UK, where they could be called as witnesses in an inquiry into allegations of war crimes. This is an absolute scandal that the government spent months denying.
thetimes.com/article/b9522b… Last week, Minister Andrew Murrison sent me this letter. The bizarre part? The letter wasn’t sent to my parliamentary email - which is still receiving correspondence - but to the SNP’s generic HQ email. Clearly they hoped this would be missed entirely and go under the radar.

Over 300 residents would be forced down these stairs - no possessions, medicines or food - and not see daylight for 27 days. The youngest was just over one month old. The oldest was 93. Seven would be executed by soldiers. Ten would die due to the conditions in the basement. This is the ‘big room’ of the basement. People were held here against their will without light, food, medicine or toilet facilities for 27 days. Russian soldiers refused to let people out. They would sometimes give tiny portions of food. People weren’t allowed to bring belongings

Over the past couple of weeks I have been dealing with a sophisticated and targeted spear phishing hack of my personal email account, and the personal email account belonging to one of my staff. These hacks are a criminal offence.
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi… Although attempts to hack my parliamentary account are continuous - as is the case for all MPs - these have not been successful. I want to assure constituents that their information is secure. My private account is not used for constituency or parliamentary business.

As ever, @AMSalamone is always worth listening to and this article is no different. I don't agree with all of it but I thought I'd chip in some of my own thoughts...

https://twitter.com/AMSalamone/status/1510569150036516868

Anthony is right to say that the war will serve as a historical marker. We are approaching 6 weeks since this latest invasion started, and whilst the conflict does probably have some way to go, its implications are profound for every political party in Europe.

🧵 This article is worth reading and engaging with, so in that spirit I’ll offer some observations and challenge a couple of points in a short thread.

heraldscotland.com/politics/19723… The article rightly highlights the growing aggression and challenge to open societies presented by authoritarian states such as China and Russia. This is something that all liberal societies - not least in the EU - are struggling, and at times failing, to deal with robustly.

1/ Okay say a bit of a thread on this. It seems that no matter how often I explain that this concept - which I’d hope to take to SNP conference - is not an equivalent to national service or training people in arms, picture desks still opt for armed marching soldiers.

https://twitter.com/magnusllewellin/status/1257560726115364864

2/ This pandemic has shown most brutally that traditional approaches security don’t always fit into the modern threat picture - and that our economic and personal security is as relevant to that as our physical security.

A fascinating defence story in today’s @thesundaytimes.

Let’s break it down and expose the lie that the Tories are the ‘party of defence’ but are instead party of the decline of defence.

thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/t… 🔘Cuts to the army being explored

Just four years ago under Cameron the Tory manifesto committed to numbers not falling below 82,000. They’re currently at around 73,000.

This story suggests the army would be cut to around 60-65 thousand - the smallest in centuries.

Time for a short explainer on my comments aimed at those that seek to abuse, intimidate and harass people who question, disagree or are unconvinced by independence. To be clear at the outset, it is those people and those people alone who this is about. This was brought about after an appalling case of intimidation against a young female journalist - a case in which the First Minister herself commented and defended the journalist who was the recipient of an absurd campaign of vitriol from some on our side. Wholly unacceptable.

A few thoughts on yesterday’s events in the Commons: It is as mad as it looks. The government is literally living vote-to-vote, with whips scuttling around between divisions to find out how *their own MPs* plan to vote in divisions that are minutes away. Strong and stable? No. The start of the withdrawal debate should have been a big parliamentary moment - it was, but didn’t feel like it. Normally at these moments (air strikes in Syria, Dec ‘15) you can feel the weight of the decision we are being asked to take as MPs (mostly) sit in silence for the PM

This is worth everyone’s time but misses out on some of the bigger picture stuff that we must consider. A few thoughts on the issues that it raises...

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Firstly there is no squeamishness. We seek to create a new state that would be a full and active member of international institutions, and we are very aware of the challenges and threats that an independent Scotland will need to deal with in the short & long term as it does so.