NOW is not time for the independence movement to be derailed. That there will be “fall-out” from the Salmond trial and its verdict seems almost inevitable. But for those of us who don’t belong to any political party, and who give their vote for independence to the SNP, we need to know 
that neither our political agenda nor all the work to date will be sacrificed.

The pandemic crisis demonstrates, if nothing else, that greed and selfishness knows no bounds, across countries, nations, continents. Perhaps it is only matched by the arrogance and ignorance evidenced by a few, sadly mostly within the political, ruling classes. 

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon under fire for calling Johnson 'Boris' instead of PM

It has to be asked why the likes of Bolsonaro, Trump and Johnson appear to be putting economics, their banking systems and such existing structures first, before identifying and implementing required changes. 
Bolsonaro has said governors and mayors “were guilty of 
crimes for ordering virus shutdowns” that would “destroy” Brazil’s economy and wants businesses to reopen. Trump thinks it’ll be fine by Easter, 
whilst Republican Dan Patrick in Texas believes grandparents should be prepared to die to ensure the US economy wouldn’t be destroyed. 

And Johnson? Well, he’s got Dom and the herd theory, the five million self-employed left behind and the so-called Universal Credit neither universal in its access nor availability to the hundreds of thousands currently trying to register. Never mind the five-week delay – all those volunteers about to be going round the country, helping out, can possibly deliver food parcels.

You have to wonder just how far the right-wing politics past and present, have brought us to the state in which we now find ourselves. Even just the last 10 years or so. Zero-hours contracts, gig economy workers, self-employed. Don’t forget the huge rise in the self-employed as they were encouraged to become entrepreneurs and use their redundancy money, from all those redundancies In-work poverty and food banks, all now an accepted part of life.

Fruit farmers are worried about a lack of “pickers” in the months to come (come on volunteers, time to step up?). And supermarkets are looking to employ staff to unload, restock shelves, clean up! This doesn’t quite seem either good planning or sound economics to me. But since I’m neither a politician nor an economic planner, what would I know?

But I do know we will not come out of this well if we trail behind the likes of Johnson and his right-wing neo-con cronies. That Johnson and Trump find their personal and political ratings rising at this moment fills me with despair since it may point the way ahead. Their policies, if unchecked, will lead to petty isolationism, inward-looking nationalism and the unfair trading, based on greed, that ignores the fact we are interconnected across the world. 

Yes, we need sharing and solidarity, but those are qualities we will need to deploy globally, post-pandemic recovery. If not, if we “hoard” our resources, skills, information, we will see the poorest countries, their weakest people and economies, worse off than now, leading to a repeat of poverty, war, migration and all the rest.

So I want a leader who is calm, clear, concise and is prepared to appear and be accountable along with the appropriate team players. So thank you Nicola Sturgeon, Jeanne Freeman and Catherine Calderwood, and everyone else playing their part and more. 

For my future in Scotland, and that of my grandchildren, I need an independent Scotland. Nothing should detract from achieving that.

Selma Rahman 
Edinburgh