POLITICS is an adversarial business.
The cut and thrust of debate and the holding of governments to account is a cornerstone of our democratic system, and rightly so.
So blaming our opposition parties for opposing would be rather like blaming fish for swimming. It is what they do; it is what they must do.
But at Holyrood at present, the opposition seem to be swimming in ever-decreasing circles.
Instead of using their privileged position to act in the people's interests by informing them of the issues ahead as we approach the independence referendum, they have chosen to swarm around Alex Salmond like piranha in the hope of nipping off bits of his support.
Point-scoring, posturing and name-calling have become the order of the day. Puffed up with faux indignation, MSPs call for resignations as casually as they call taxis.
The debate on what those same MSPs tell us is the most important political choice of the last 300 years is being obscured, or even lost.
This issue is too important for that to continue.
People look to their politicians for information. What they are getting is virtually white noise.
We have asked before for a reasoned debate on this subject. At the time, it did not seem much to ask.
Voters need information on which to vote. They want to know if independence will result in the kind of country they desire for themselves, their families and society, or whether remaining in the United Kingdom would achieve that. They want to hear and weigh the options. That is not all they want to know, of course.
If ministers have fallen down on the job, if public services are being cut, or if Parliament has been misled, we should all be told.
But a shrieking commentary on the travails of the SNP Government is not the independence debate.
Rather, it is blocking the independence debate by filling up airtime and headlines with chaff.
If MSPs continue in this fashion, other voices may well supplant them. As we report today, the trades union movement is taking a serious interest in what becomes of Scotland and the rest of the UK in 2014. It is treating its membership like adults.
There was another example from outside the mainstream parties in Glasgow yesterday at the Radical Independence Conference.
While much of the left-wing rhetoric was familiar and easy to caricature, there was a genuine desire to articulate a vision of what independence might hold. There has not been much vision at Holyrood of late, just blinkers.
If MSPs cannot rise above the current level of debate, we must hope the debate rises above them.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article