At the Sunday National, we’ve never been busier. In newsrooms, you’ll often hear talk of “silly season”, the quiet spells in the summer and Christmas periods when news slows down and reporters have to work harder to find things to write about. This year that hasn’t happened – we’ve been at full pelt since February and it shows no sign of slowing down.

So here we look back on the people who’ve made that news, with our heroes and villains of 2020.

KEY WORKERS

THE lowest paid, the frequently overstretched, the often-overlooked, the most taken for granted, the ones we couldn’t do without.

There aren’t enough words to pay proper tribute to care workers, supermarket staff, nurses, NHS cleaners, delivery drivers and all the frontline staff who’ve kept the country running this year, but we’re going to try.

There’s no doubt that those on the frontline are Scotland’s people of the year. While many of us have been able to work from the safety of our homes, they’ve turned up shift after shift to work our wards and keep supplies moving.

Police have had to break up hundreds of lockdown-breaking parties every single week, staff at the Department for Work and Pensions have processed millions of applications for Universal Credit, firefighters and ambulance crews have responded to individual emergencies as a global crisis unfolds in front of them.

Teachers have delivered safe education for the youngest, health and social care workers have been a lifeline to the eldest.

They’ve done it all after enduring a decade of austerity that’s impacted on pay and conditions, and a society that somehow manages to underappreciate all they do.

There’s no doubt 2020 has brought with it many lessons – it’s forced us all to live more locally, encouraged us to get outside more often and reminded us to take nothing for granted – but principle amongst these must be to value the people we rely on to keep our country safe, healthy, secure and stocked.

So we thank you, all those frontline workers who have done so much for us.

AMY CALLAGHAN

THE 28-year-old MP says she wants to “change her brackets” in 2021 and break the association with surviving cancer and a brain haemorrhage. We’ll call this inspirational politician anything she likes. Her defeat of then-LibDem leader Jo Swinson just 12 months ago was one of the big stories of 2019. This year she managed to call 999 after suffering a major health problem in her home and has shown determination and dignity in her recovery, sharing this with the public through a number of interviews at a time when we’ve all needed some good news.

PETER KRYKANT

THE drugs safety activist is saving lives and changing minds through his safe consumption van, which operates in Glasgow in a bid to protect injecting drug users amidst an epidemic of deaths. A former addict himself, Krykant, who risks prosecution, has administered emergency anti-overdose treatment Naloxone to keep people alive until medics can arrive and will meet Nicola Sturgeon early in the new year as her government attempts to stop this country being the drugs death capital of the world.

PROFESSORS DEVI SRIDHAR AND LINDA BAULD

THESE public health heroes have been essential communicators during the pandemic. Both on the team at Edinburgh University, their guidance has been practical and accessible and has helped shaped government judgement as well as public opinion and behaviour through articles and interviews. They’ve been on our social media streams all year – maybe that’s why Twitter was so delighted to see a photograph of the friends on a socially distanced walk in the Edinburgh sunshine earlier this month.

DONALD MACASKILL

THE chief executive of Scottish Care has been a strong voice for the sector, advocating for both those caring and cared-for through many difficult months. Care homes have often borne the brunt of the pandemic. MacAskill has consistently raised important issues about the safety and welfare of elderly residents and the younger workforce looking after them at a time when many are cut off from loved ones. His work isn’t just raising awareness, it’s opening our eyes and could help alter the way our services run.

OLIVIA STRONG

A BRAINWAVE while running led to a major fundraiser backed by Ellie Goulding, Lily James and more thanks to documentary maker Strong. The Edinburgh woman came up with the Run for Heroes concept that raised more than £2.5 million for the NHS while hurtling down Arthur’s Seat in March.

READ MORE: The biggest gaffes of 2020: From eye-test drives to fake tears

LEWIS CAPALDI

HE’S known for his sad songs, but the Whitburn musician had cause to celebrate this year when his hit made a new record. Released in 2018, smash single Someone You Loved became the track with the longest number of weeks in the top 10 by a UK artist. It also earned him Brit Awards for song of the year and best new artist in February.

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB 

IT’S not easy to keep people laughing during a pandemic, but this much-loved institution has managed it. The Stand hasn’t been able to open its Edinburgh or Glasgow clubs to the paying public months, but it’s given viewers worldwide the chance to see live acts every weekend through its Saturday Night Live stream on YouTube. Stand-ups have been paid for their sets through a crowdfunder and it’s been a valuable touch of normality for many.

THE SCOTLAND MEN’S NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM 

IT hasn’t been plain sailing since, and it certainly wasn’t before, but we qualified for the Euros after donkey’s years with a stunning penalty shoot-out victory over Serbia last month in the ultimate mood-booster. People couldn’t stop talking about it for days, even 70s disco act Baccara, who were both confused and delighted when their hit Yes Sir, I Can Boogie shot up the charts after the match. That was due to dressing room celebration footage of the team belting it out.

The track became a fan favourite after defender Andrew Considine dressed up in drag to record a video for the song on his stag do. Keeper David Marshall’s reaction to saving the last shot must be one of the most memed moments of 2020.

VILLAINS

SCOTLAND’S TORY MPS

IMAGINE voting against protecting food standards after Brexit. Now imagine doing it when you represent a rural area where the food and drink sector is the meat and drink of the local economy. Scotland’s six Conservative MPs don’t need to imagine that, because they did exactly that in May. Neil Parish, a Tory MP from south west England, had tabled an amendment to the UK Agriculture Bill which aimed to enshrine in law the principle that imported food would need to match UK farmers’ quality and animal welfare standards, but it fell in the Commons, no thanks to this bunch, prompting criticism from the National Farmers Union, amongst others.

COVID RULE-BREAKERS 

FOR a time, it seemed there would be no end to the number of high-profile individuals breaking Covid travel bans – so many, in fact, that we’re rounding them all up into one category. American Gods author Neil Gaiman went from New Zealand to England to Skye, and ex-Tory MP Patrick Mercer also drove to the island. Catherine Calderwood ignored the advice she was giving the public to travel twice to Fife, Dominic Cummings fancied a couple of drives around England, Serco boss Rupert Soames – Churchill’s grandson – boarded the Caledonian Sleeper to Inverness, Prince William and wife Kate took the royal train to Edinburgh in a bizarre gesture of thanks to key workers and then there’s Margaret Ferrier’s return trip to London. We’ll stop there.

DEREK MACKAY

THE Renfrewshire North and West MSP was Finance Secretary and named as a potential future first minister before he had to quit the cabinet in February after it emerged he’d bombarded a 16-year-old boy with hundreds of messages. Police said there was no grounds for a criminal case and MacKay apologised “unreservedly to the individual involved and his family”, saying he was “sorry to have let colleagues and supporters down”.