The First Minister is correct in saying that our political culture is more toxic now. I would also agree about the role of social media, an unconstructive digital chasm. However, surely some blame for this must lie at her own partys’ door. Before 2014 I was largely comfortable in my identity; I was Scottish and British. I expect many felt the same, moving along a continuum. In 2014 it was open to attack for the first time. Was I Scottish enough? How Scottish did I need to be? Was I a “quisling” forwanting to vote No? The SNP has used every election, local and national, to campaign for another independence referendum where not only your political views are questioned, but your sense of identity as well. The opposition parties dutifully and necessarily have to follow suit with this. Sturgeon has the power to put the clock back to the post-2014 world, yet obviously chooses to exist in this “polarised and toxic” Scotland that she bemoans. David Bone, Girvan, South Ayrshire.