Right-wingers and Unionists are perfect. It’s not as if they were the ones who turned Glasgow’s George Square into a hooligan free-for-all in the wake of the referendum — the worst outbreak of civil disorder ever connected to Scotland’s constitution. They don’t hound ordinary liberals or Yes voters daily online. They don’t threaten and intimidate left-wing or Yes-supporting journalists (though good luck finding more than a handful of those in Scotland).

Read more by Neil Mackay: The political parties are useless. In this class war, the people are on their own

But maybe it’s unfair to lump all right-wingers and unionists into the same category as those thugs and trolls? How strange, because that’s what it’s like for ordinary left-wingers and Yes voters: made to feel criminal thanks to a few idiots from a population of millions. And why is it always the left and the Yes movement calling out the trolls in their ranks — and never the right or unionists?

But then right-wingers and Unionists, and their supporters in the press, never lie, exaggerate or manipulate the truth. Certainly, right-wing and Unionist politicians and journalists never ramp up hatred. There’s never been front pages reading "Enemies of the People" or "Crush the Saboteurs".

Certainly, right-wingers or Unionists don’t gaslight Scotland. They don’t bully, harass and intimidate and then claim it’s only lefties or Yessers who bully, harass and intimidate. Evidently, if they did, they’d be liars and hypocrites — fanning the flames of hatred while posing as victims.

The ruckus at the Perth Tory hustings is a perfect example of this egregious nonsense. Some nationalist eejits verbally attacked a BBC journalist — which is clearly wrong, and shouldn’t have happened, but then you never really hear much about this kind of nastiness in Scotland when it’s right-wingers or unionists hounding journalists, so make of that what you will. There were banners reading "Tory scum". Eggs were thrown. Someone spat. Trumpist insurrection it wasn’t.

Evidently, these events only happen in Scotland. It’s not as if in Manchester, the same week, protestors chanted "Tory scum" at Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. For, you see, those Perth protestors weren’t just Yes voters. Again, not that you’d know that given the manipulation of the story. Folk there were angry about the treatment of refugees, the cost of living, pensions, climate, the NHS; others protested backing the rail strikes. The demonstration was called by Perth Against Racism, backed up by Stand Up To Racism, women’s pension campaigners, and Fridays for Future school strikers. Trade unionists spoke. A nurse denounced Conservatives threatening the right to strike.

But none of those people were there if you read the commentators; it was all just the nationalist bogeyman, a "separatist hate mob". Incidentally, you may not have read, as few have bothered to report it, but despite the hysteria Police Scotland made no arrests.

There’s one school of thought, clearly, which would see this protest as rather mild. In case you’ve missed it — and again, if you get your news from most of the British right-wing press, you probably have missed it — quite a lot of people are probably going to die unnecessarily this winter as the Conservative Government does a Nero and fiddles while Britons starve and freeze, unable to pay the profiteering bills of corporations which have the UK Government in their pockets. There’s an apt visual metaphor for what’s happening right now in Britain: the seas around England filling up with raw sewage thanks to the Conservative privatisation of the water industry. You’ll forgive many, I hope, for noting that "Tories simply don’t give a s**t".

Of course, a failed SNP Government does little amid the cost of living crisis, even with the limited powers at its disposal. Though, Nicola Sturgeon at least calls for a discussion around nationalisation of energy. The SNP will soon find itself swept into the same basket as the Tories in London once people start to suffer in the next few months. Unless they stand with the people, all politicians will become hate figures, not just Tories up at Perth.

The anger is not reflected in our media or government ... how long will they ignore reality?

Fear and loathing of UK media

The media narrative of what’s happening in Britain is deeply, mendaciously flawed. People are scared and angry. The majority of the media isn’t reflecting that fear and rage, but rather doing its regular job of defending the UK Government. The media isn’t meant to defend governments, but to hold them to account. If we wonder why there’s so much hatred of journalists in this country, that’s your answer. People tend to stereotype – and if the bulk of the media is seen as Government propagandists, then we’re all going to be tarred with that brush. How can we complain? After all, we media folk do enough stereotyping ourselves. Just ask any refugee, if you can find one before they’re all deported to Rwanda.

"Tory scum" placards will likely seem quite quaint a few months from now. Once folk get made redundant because the company they work for can no longer keep the lights on, once that means their homes are repossessed as they can’t afford their mortgage, the word "scum" will be the least of politicians’ worries.

If there’s ever been a time for protest, it’s now. Democracy cannot function without protest. Like democracy, protest is messy, ugly. No democracy, no protest, is ever perfect. As long as there’s no violence, no threats, then all protest is legitimate. What would we rather have? Protest, which is invariably flawed; or a supine population, obedient in the face of political abuse, Government failure and media lies?

Read more by Neil Mackay: From London to Edinburgh and beyond, politics has failed the people

Our columns are a platform for writers to express their opinions. They do not necessarily represent the views of The Herald.