Enough is enough. The persecution of Nicola Sturgeon has got to stop. It has gone on for far too long. In newspapers, on air and on social media she is subjected, constantly, to an unprecedented level of poison. In print, and in conversation, people are hurling abuse at her the way peasants used to throw cabbages at folk in the stocks. The discourse has grown so ugly it is not only bad for Sturgeon, but for us as a country.

For one thing, the tsunami of anti-Nicola vilification shows Scotland in a terrible light. We used to be better than this - more urbane and a great deal less personally vindictive. Not now, it seems. In a way I can’t remember before, Sturgeon has become a lightning rod for dissatisfaction and disappointment, but also for sheer nastiness.

The few positive and supportive pieces you read are swamped by the tide of vitriol. When the most virulent comments, especially online, are from men, it’s hard not to suspect that misogyny is at play. Even when the subject has nothing to do with Sturgeon, she is dragged in, like a bogeyman. Want to lambast Amanda Knox for her Edinburgh Fringe show (without seeing it)? Then link her name to Sturgeon’s to indicate just how low you think Knox has sunk.

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Whether these so-called commentators are anti-Nicola, anti-SNP, or anti-women, it is sickening. This, in a country that was once famed - and since shamed - for its witch hunts. Judging by the........

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