Sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind

Calton has just managed to catch up with Susan Calman's comments on Radio 4's News Quiz which provoked such a storm of cyber-bullying that she seems to have disappeared off twitter. They were hilarious - it was one of the best episodes of the NQ Calton has ever heard. OK, so she was poking fun at oor Eck but Calton is sure the big man can handle it. Not so his cybernats, who seem to be totally devoid of a sense of humour. For this, Alex Salmond and his party need to take some responsibility. They have deliberately played the patriotic, emotional card in the independence debate, in place of reasoned argument and facts, so they should not be surprised when the argument ends up in the gutter. Their approach encourages personal abuse in place of rational debate - they have sown the wind and are now reaping the whirlwind. What really worries Calton is that, now the SNP have let the nationalist genie out of the bottle, what is going to happen if the majority vote no in 2014? Are the cybernats going to go away or will their virtual threats become real ones in an attempt to force independence? In that case, the Athens of the North may well become the Beirut of the North. Calton is already looking for a new eyrie.....