Maiden Scotland

English MPs seem to have been genuinely stunned today by the quality of the maiden speeches given by some of the new SNP MPs. You can see the whole day's proceedings and the reactions here (Joanna Cherry at 12:15:00 and Tommy Sheppard at 15:22:10).

But here's Tommy Sheppard. No notes. Just honest, articulate compassion, humour and intellect. Wonderful stuff. And then this:

"You will make a bad situation much worse in some of the areas in my constituency. You will push people to the margins. You will push people, at times, over the edge and you will complete their alienation from the society in which they live.

And I would implore you not to do it."