COVID-19 is the pandemic of our times; and it may be some considerable time before it runs its course. The Scottish Government is wise to advise caution. Past experience suggests that reducing the risk means more people survive.

For example, take the so-called Spanish flu of 1918, which was the deadliest in modern history. (Spanish flu is a misnomer as it actually began in the United States but because the Spanish authorities did not impose censorship, unlike most other countries, it got misnamed after an outbreak there.)

Across the world, Spanish flu killed at least 50 million people and infected more than 500m. It also altered the course of history for a number of countries. India, for one, saw its future change.

According to Opinion magazine; “Mahatma Gandhi, the chief architect of India’s independence, was one of millions who contracted Spanish flu. The flu that killed an estimated 20m Indians – the largest in any country in the world – was also instrumental in uniting people against the British.”

“When the pandemic struck India, it became clear that the British had ignored healthcare in the country. The medical infrastructure was a shambles.”

Laura Spinney, author of Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu Of 1918 And How It Changed The World, says: “People were dying in droves.”

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“The British Government officials who were supposed to handle the situation left for holiday in the Hill Stations to avoid infections,” according to history writer, Karthick Nambi. With studied indifference, in his official correspondence in early December 1918, the Lieutenant Governor of the United Provinces did not even mention influenza, instead noting: “Everything is very dry; but I managed to get two hundred couple of snipe so far this season.”

The vacuum in healthcare support brought Indians together to fight the deadly virus.

“The people who stepped into that medical breach tended to be militants, the grassroots activists for independence, who had worked out how to cross caste barriers and work together for a different goal – independence,” says Spinney.

The death and misery wrought by the pandemic fuelled anger against the colonisers. And people rallied behind Gandhi and the independence movement.

Spinney says, “Once the pandemic passed, emotion against the British was even higher than it had been before. And people were far more united that they had been. They now came together behind Gandhi. He found that, suddenly, he had the grassroots support he had been lacking until then.”

Some may say that the UK Government’s equivalent of a Hill Station was revealed last week in Edinburgh. The town has been graced by the completion of Queen Elizabeth House. (Which Queen Elizabeth is not made clear.)

This building is described as the UK Government’s flagship hub. It seems the “hub” will “house 3000 civil servants from 11 departments, to deliver bigger, better and more co-ordinated service to people and businesses.

“It is soon to be joined by a Glasgow hub.”

This brings to mind an old tale from days of the Glasgow Empire when the Winters brothers were on the bill. Bernie Winters was dying on his feet in front of a deeply unimpressed audience, when his brother appeared from the wings. A huge cry rose up from the stalls: “Good god, there’s two of them.”

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The hub will be a centre for the SS. To be precise, the OSSS – the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland. An office of Scottish Secretary we were once told was on its way to oblivion as it was little needed.

From here, it is claimed there will be “a commitment to building a strong civil service outside London, leading the way in ‘regional’ development”.

Thus, Scotland is on the way to be the most over-governed country in the world. Scots will ‘benefit’ from local councils, a Scottish Government, a UK Government – and now a bunch of folks working for the OSSS, doing who knows what.

You know, for many years I lived in leafy Berkshire. Most of my neighbours were Tories and they voted that way because they loathed bureaucracy and waste.

They bought fully into the notion there was a limited pot of public money and most officialdom was wasteful and could not be trusted to spend wisely.

Now, here we are in 2020, with a Tory Government spending money like drunken sailors on frivolities such as an OSSS hub.

All at a time when the SNP and independence are riding at an all-time high in the polls. Many Scots Tories will look at this nonsense in despair. And the smart ones among them will be laying plans for a Conservative Party in an independent Scotland.

This column welcomes questions from readers. Tune into the TNT show next Wednesday at 7pm, when The Nation Talks live to Grousebeater