Jill Stephenson, Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh, attacked the young SNP MP Mhairi Black by calling her over Twitter "a harridan" and "a foul mouthed little slut" and saying she was a "disgrace". 

Ms Black appears to have done nothing wrong aside from the crimes of being a young, working class, SNP candidate. This attack on her via social media could put off precisely the people who should be encouraged to be involved in politics, and in using gendered slurs like "slut" is likely to embolden sexists and put women off standing up and having their voices heard.

Ms Black has a first class honours degree from the University of Glasgow and has worked hard to gain her election to Parliament. It's difficult to see, even if you don't agree with her politics (many people will not) why she should be the target of such bile, unless it's her class background. 

Professor Stephenson, please apologise to Ms Black for your insults. We understand your politics are totally different, so why not dispute her on political grounds rather than personal?