1) As I've said before,I'm not a member of the SNP. I occasionally think about joining because I support independence, however, the actions of the NEC over the upcoming election put me right off.

2) It's clear that the NEC has a problem with Joanna Cherry. Otherwise they would be doing everything in their power to ensure that a formidable politician like Joanna Cherry was at Holyrood (personally I think she's actually still got a job to do at Westminster. We all know the

3) independence vote is coming. We will need some of our best still at Westminster to deal with the games you know they'll want to play in the lead up to the end of the Union, but that's a personal view, if Holyrood is where she feels she should be the SNP's response should have

4) been, how do we make this happen? That they've let personal grudges get in the way of ensuring the best politicians are present at Holyrood - who want to serve there - is pretty shocking actually. I'm not getting into the identity issue, my focus is on independence and

5) I'm not impressed with anyone who doesn't put that as their primary priority, not least because once we have made the decision to be independent then the next step is the constitutional settlement when it will be up to the people of Scotland to decide these matters.

6) Then we come to the issue of the NEC members trying to nab seats. Look, I like some of the people on the list. I think they would make good MSPs (some of them I think the complete opposite of too) BUT if they want to be MSPs, they need to resign their seats on the NEC

7) because the NEC has control over who is allowed to stand. It's an issue about fairness and the perception of fairness. It's also about demonstrating to the voters in Scotland that the SNP has higher standards than other political parties. If the current mess continues

8) then I'm afraid all they are doing is sending the message that the SNP is just the same as every other political party. It also raises questions about the priorities of the people now running the SNP. Are there priorities Scotland? Is what primarily motivates them seeing an

9) independent Scotland? Or is it their own careers? At the moment I'm not sure I'd like the honest answers to those questions.