@ThomasCArthur Interesting initial thread from Tom. And an equally interesting response from yourself. But I'm afraid I think you just don't get the point of Tom's thread or understand Nicola's approach. Let me explain.

What follows is a thread.

@SandyWito1 @ThomasCArthur 1. Firstly, you should know I'm a Yoon who voted No in 2014. I've followed the split in the Yes side with great interest. It may help to see this from a Yoons perspective.

*I hate the term Yoon, but I'll use it here for ease.
@SandyWito1 @ThomasCArthur 2. I'll start by telling you, imo, what the biggest threat to the Union is; Brexit. Many of us moderates and undecided were turned off Indy by the blood & soil stuff was so prevalent on the run upto 2014.
@SandyWito1 @ThomasCArthur 3. The blood and soil stuff returned with vengeance during the Brexit campaign and many of us who were turned off by Indy because of this started to question Britishness.
@SandyWito1 @ThomasCArthur 4. The shambolic exit and bumbling Boris government has compounded this and many of us moderates and pragmatic have started to become open to the idea of Indy.
@SandyWito1 @ThomasCArthur 5. Meanwhile, while all this has been happening over the course of a few years...Nicola has been biding her time in the background, patiently allowing Boris and Co to give themselves enough rope to hang themselves.
@SandyWito1 @ThomasCArthur 6. While Boris has been turning many of us off, Nicola has been trying her best to play down the decisive them & us approach so favoured of her predecessor and many high profile bloggers.
@SandyWito1 @ThomasCArthur So where are we Today? Is it 20 polls in a row showing Indy in the lead? Many of us ready to open up to the idea of Indy. SNP in commanding lead. Nicola has bided her time brilliantly and is about to strike at precisely the right moment.
@SandyWito1 @ThomasCArthur 8. When SNP get their landslide later this year, they will go out for a ref. And when Boris refuses that, support will go through the fkn roof. Boris telling us what we can & cannot do? Many will support Indy purely on a point of principle.
@SandyWito1 @ThomasCArthur 9. HOW CAN YOU GUYS NOT SEE THAT?
@SandyWito1 @ThomasCArthur 10. Now here's the biggest threat to Indy. Salmond. The Rev. Hardcore bloggers. Tommy. AUOB. I could go on. Us moderates and floaters, we don't care that the UK government has built an office complex in Edinburgh.
@SandyWito1 @ThomasCArthur 11. We don't consider ourselves to be a repressed colony of England. We don't care about any of the decisive shit they constantly bang on about. We genuinely wants what what's best for Scotland. In 2014 that may well have been remaining in the UK
@SandyWito1 @ThomasCArthur 12. Today, though... what's best for Scotland may well be as an independent nation, and members of the EU.
@SandyWito1 @ThomasCArthur 13. I think and hope I've made my point... I'm in danger of rambling now. But seriously, the decisive them and us, the hardcore approach, trying to put the idea that the English are c**ts and we are repressed didn't work in 2014. It wont work today, either.

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Two things can be true at once:
1. There is an issue with hostility some academics have faced on some issues
2. Another academic who himself uses threats of legal action to bully colleagues into silence is not a good faith champion of the free speech cause


I have kept quiet about Matthew's recent outpourings on here but as my estwhile co-author has now seen fit to portray me as an enabler of oppression I think I have a right to reply. So I will.

I consider Matthew to be a colleague and a friend, and we had a longstanding agreement not to engage in disputes on twitter. I disagree with much in the article @UOzkirimli wrote on his research in @openDemocracy but I strongly support his right to express such critical views

I therefore find it outrageous that Matthew saw fit to bully @openDemocracy with legal threats, seeking it seems to stifle criticism of his own work. Such behaviour is simply wrong, and completely inconsistent with an academic commitment to free speech.

I am not embroiling myself in the various other cases Matt lists because, unlike him, I think attention to the detail matters and I don't have time to research each of these cases in detail.

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