Et Tu, The National?

The Sunday National. Look it up for yourself, I’ll not link to it.

Et tu, The National? On behalf of the many disgusted independence activists who have today taken to social media in relation to the latest hatchet job on Alex Salmond, I feel the question must be asked: “What the hell were you thinking”? I have today seen numerous people stating they will cancel their subscriptions, including one friend who has championed your paper at every opportunity, who has delivered it on the doorsteps and handed it out on the streets and who has now cancelled their subscription and has vowed never to hand out a copy again. Way to go, guys!

Alex Salmond was acquitted of every single charge, yet his anonymous accusers show no sign of relenting in their campaign to destroy him, and now continue to do so with the aid and abettance of the one paper which had the broad support of the independence movement. I say “had” in the past tense. Many were suspicious of the paper already being a stablemate of the ultra British nationalist Herald, and for them this has surely been the straw which broke the camel’s back. Others however were your core customer base and for them this will undoubtedly be a “Ratner moment” which will see them take their once valued custom elsewhere.

As a very active independence campaigner I value the contribution made by The National to our efforts over the last few years, but I can’t let this pass without comment. There must now be nothing less than a front page apology from the paper for it’s decision to give the anonymous accusers a platform and an open and honest admission as to how that decision was made. If such an apology is not forthcoming then I fear that this paper’s days are numbered.

COVID-19: What Can We Do Differently from England?

In all the furore over the UK governments ventilator procurement scandal, no-one seems to be asking a very simple question: if the UK government acting on behalf of NHS England is not taking up the many offers to produce ventilators, is the Scottish government doing so? I’ve read that they have ordered an additional 300 ventilators, but is that really an adequate amount? For a country of our size we really need to ensure that we have as many as possible with the expectation that while most people are doing everything they can, this situation is going to worsen before it gets better. We should be hoovering up the offers from companies which the UK government has rejected as a matter of urgencySimilarly I would say that the work the Scottish Government is now doing to identify a site for an emergency facility is weeks too late and that such facilities should have been identified and operational before now. I’d also go further and say that we do not need one large facility, but that each health board should have set up emergency centres in their own area to ensure the shortest possible journey times and the minimisation of the possibility of the virus being spread in transit. The people in the Highlands, Islands and the Borders deserve to be treated in their own areas, lest we reinforce the absurd notion that only the Central belt matters; a mirror to the problem in England where the “UK” emergency centre has been established in London.

I’ve heard many people trying to point score over this pandemic, and it is all very well saying that the Scottish government is operating different strategies while pointing to deficiencies in the English health service, but the time for clapping ourselves on the back is not now. That time will be when this crisis has subsided and we can then have an honest and open assessment of what worked and what didn’t, and what we need to do in the event of future pandemics. For now we must expect to see a worsening of the situation and a subsequent tightening of the restrictions we are currently living under. I would expect to see at the very least an end to all flights and unnecessary cross border land travel to prevent the virus spreading further from the most contaminated areas, however I suspect that will not happen, which leads me to my final point.

If this virus had broken out primarily in Scotland and was seen as a threat to the rest of the UK, would the UK government even hesitate to bring in an immediate travel ban and testing regime on anyone travelling south? I don’t think they would even blink before doing so. Having demanded Brexit to take back control they left their (and our) borders open and allowed it to enter and devastate the UK. I would hope that when Scotland does become independent in the event of a similar crisis we wouldn’t be as stupid as to make a similar lethal mistake.