This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter.

As a writer I’m always reluctant to deploy words like ‘evil’ or ‘monster’. The crudity of the language strips away all humanity from the target.

Yet sometimes, we must ask ourselves if there are not those amongst us who through their words and deeds surrender their own humanity.

By discarding the most important attributes of human nature – empathy, compassion, respect – they reduce themselves to the status of a modern monster.

And it is with that in mind that we must turn to those who are today hounding and harassing the Scottish comedian Janey Godley as she faces her own death.

I will dispense with the newspaper convention of using the surname of the individual under discussion as I know Janey. I like her, I find her an admirable woman.

Yet even if I did not know Janey, what is being done to her would still consume me with the rage I now feel, simply because Janey is a human being and I too am a human being.

As the poet John Donne wrote: “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.”

Earlier this week, Janey, who has been fighting cancer for years, explained that treatment options were now exhausted. “I’m facing end of life,” she said on Twitter, now known as X under the rule of Elon Musk. She is currently receiving palliative care and will be entering a hospice.

She made her statement with grace, thanking every member of the NHS who had cared for her........

© Herald Scotland