Zoom!

We don't know yet if or when there will be a second Scottish independence referendum, even though Labour and the Conservatives are talking it up. But already brethren on both sides are getting agitated. The main pro-independence parties have said nothing: Greens, SNP and SWP. We also don't know when Article 50 will launch Brexit but the internet and social media are already full of complaints and insults on all sides.

I would like to encourage us all, if we're to survive 2017, to give up the schoolboy insults and try using argument to make our points. Some of the insults I've seen are so weird, I don't know what they mean: like zoomers. I can't tell you what they are but the word is used as an insult on Facebook.

Thus, a person who wants independence is not a splitter or a splittist or a sep. A member of the SNP is not a nazi or a nastynat. A Green is not a sandal-muncher (though the mental picture is quite good - reminds me of Charlie Chaplin eating his boot when he had no money). A person who wants the UK to stay united is not a yoon.

A man with an opinion that is opposed to your own is not a wanker or a bastard. Alex Salmond is not the SNP's puppet-master. He's just a politician. Nicola Sturgeon is not Alex Salmond's puppet. Theresa May is not a bitch. Nor are Kezia Dugdale or Ruth Davidson. They too are just politicians. They actually believe in what they're doing.

It would be good if people who want independence could remind themselves that insults are used to provoke - and if you retaliate with more insults, you're playing into the opposition's hands.

People who wanted to stay in the EU are not Remoaners. They are among the 48% of voters who voted to stay for a lot of reasons and are now alarmed to see where the UK is heading without a map or a guidebook.

A woman with an opinion is not a c*nt. The saddest thing to see recently has been the continued attacks on Claire Heuchan's views of Scotland. No, I didn't like what she said either but I took the trouble to find out what she had actually written for the Guardian and can see how her views were distorted to suit the Guardian's new agenda. (It's entertaining that the Guardian is calling for its 'supporters' to donate money to save the paper, while all the time turning itself into the kind of right-wing organisation a lot of people in the UK detest). Surely, everyone who had something to say about Claire Heuchan's article has now said it. Can we just tell ourselves opposition views are not a bad thing and move on?

Finally, watch out for trolls and don't be a troll yourself: trolls are members of the opposition who don't really want to get into a discussion. They want to go on to other people's Facebook pages and Twitter feeds and provoke them by insulting them. Nothing good ever comes of trying to talk to these people.

To everyone with an interest in politics, I'd say: keep your powder dry - it's going to be a long year and a bumpy ride.