THE behaviour of Catherine Calderwood, Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer, has caused a great deal of comment on social media over the last 48 hours and it’s really rather sad to see how many sections of the independence movement have jumped through hoops to defend her actions when they should be raging at them.
Catherine Calderwood clearly broke the very rules she was telling everyone else they had to abide by, and my initial reaction was that she had been very arrogant in doing so, however in this pandemic we really need to have the best people available, and that a heartfelt and public apology would possibly have been enough to stem most of the anger which was being aired.
READ MORE: FM says 'it may have been easier' to sack Catherine Calderwood earlier
If people could see that even those at the very top weren’t too big to be punished then this would have sent a clear message to everyone that such behaviour would not be tolerated.
For these views I took some criticism on social media, as some thought such an apology was too extreme, while some indulged in whitabootery, citing Prince Charles’s decision to travel to his holiday home as an excuse.
In their rush to defend the CMO many folk threw rational thinking out of the window completely. If we aspire to create a better society, a better nation, why should we set the base line of acceptable behaviour as that of our opponents on their worst days? That makes no sense.
READ MORE: Who is Dr Gregor Smith, Scotland’s interim chief medical officer?
I was pleased and somewhat surprised to see this is exactly what happened and that the First Minister stuck with her, valuing the contribution her expertise brought to our country’s response to the global pandemic. This should have gone some way to allowing things to settle and to get on with the very important job of dealing with virus response.
Sadly this was all undone when it was revealed that she had done this two weekends running and Ms Calderwood had no option but to resign. But if she has shot herself in the foot, the press have grabbed the gun and given her the coup de grace to the head.
One commentator who had vociferously called for her head stated that we should all “put this behind us and move on”. Presumably to new target, because even at times like this British nationalists will put Britain first and if they can give the SNP a kicking, directly or indirectly, they will do so, even if it means doing damage to the immediate medical response.
This means that the SNP need to be at the top of their game, day in, day out. As elected politicians who represent their party and (to varying degrees) the independence movement as a whole, they must be aware that their behaviour is being scrutinised from every angle, be it a neighbour or constituent who doesn’t share their beliefs, by political opponents looking to defeat them at the ballot box or by the gutter press who may be seated next to them on the train.
This also applies to those who the Scottish Government engage to work on their behalf. Every dodgy Permanent Secretary or adviser who thinks they are above the rules is just as much a liability as those who are actually members of the SNP who behave likewise.
Scotland deserves better, and the SNP need to deliver, every single time. Mistakes like we have witnessed recently may be tolerated by the happy clappers among the party, but others in the country will not be as forgiving.
Jim Cassidy
Airdrie
THE media were quite right to pursue the Calderwood issue yesterday at the briefing – it was Sunday’s and Monday’s news.
It is not, however, today’s news, but coronavirus will still be news today and for weeks to come. The rest of the media must move on – or resign.
Peter Piper
via thenational.scot
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