[user104658]

Nicola would not have fallen on the sword of trans rights or (let's be honest) anything other than Indy... she was banking on it being slapped down by Westminster I think, and then using that "indicator of control" to further the case for independence which - all other things aside - it probably should. It does illustrate something.

So I don't think she thought it was particularly a popular policy - I think she just underestimated how hot a topic it would be at this point in time. Basically, she thought people wouldn't care all that much.

Where it fell apart was in her trying to justify it all on a very public stage after it all fell apart, and that's where she encountered the inherent contradictions and cognitive dissonance involved in trying to properly, openly, and level-headedly discuss the issue of trans rights in today's climate. It's obviouslly immeasurably complex but here's what it boils down to;

1) You can't (CAN NOT, it's logically impossible) introduce policy nuances without an admission that - on some level - there are some fundamental differences between trans women and biological females, and that those differences are relevant and important in some contexts.

2) Your choice is to do the above and be lumped in with people who are genuinely transphobic/homophobic etc., or double down. Inevitably this descends into arguments that tie themselves in knots, confusion, frustration, clear falsehoods based on nothing at all but a hope and a prayer ("What you're worried about doesn't/will never happen you're making it up") and resorting to ad hominem ("I'm right because you're clearly a bigot").


I think #1 was where Nic was destined to end up with this and she did. What surprised me was that she fell into the trappings of #2. A world-leading female politician standing up and calling women TERFs, transphobes and bigots for having genuine concerns surrounding women's safety is a ludicrous situation and could only rightly go one way. It's a terrible shame and a really sad way for her to have ended her political career.