IT’S more or less a given that politicians will try to present a case for cautious optimism about the chances of “beating” Covid-19 and eventually returning to normal, but I feel nothing but pessimism when I look at the degree of denial and exceptionalism going on.
Just a couple of the more egregious examples: hundreds of Brits thinking nothing of going off to Switzerland because there’s nothing like a bit of Christmas skiing to blow away the new mutant strain, then instead of obeying quarantine restrictions, escaping to spread the virus a bit further afield; Ryanair using unjustified optimism about the speed and efficiency of the vaccination programme to urge people to book their flights for the summer break.
This is a virus which knows precisely how to exploit both human default behaviour and capitalist default behaviour!
Derek Ball
Bearsden
READ MORE: British tourists flee Verbier ski resort after being told to quarantine
I MUST admit I share the concerns of private care home owners that the Scottish Government may simply nationalise the private care home sector in Scotland in response to the coronavirus outbreak. We still need a thorough review of everything that has happened in the care sector since the initial lockdown back in March.
However, the initial findings that private care homes had far more outbreaks of Covid than those run by either the public or the voluntary sector raise some serious concerns. There are question marks over whether the drive for profit meant that these private care homes ignored guidance on infection control.
READ MORE: Police rule out action over George Galloway's Queen of the South visit
If it is found that care homes (whether private or not) put their residents at risk due to poor management such as inadequate infection control, there should be criminal charges against the owners and operators of such homes. They shouldn’t benefit from a “nationalisation” – they should be stripped of their properties and banned from working in the care sector.
The protection of the most vulnerable in society can’t be left to those looking to make a quick buck out of elderly residents. We need a national care service with good working conditions and a strong emphasis on improving the lives of all residents.
Cllr Kenny MacLaren
Paisley
WE are at a loss to understand why churches and other places of worship are allowed to remain open during Level 4 restrictions, especially when typically elderly church-goers are most at risk.
Similar demographic minorities such as theatre- or café-goers could surely make identical claims to community needs. If only they too could lobby from unelected seats in the House of Lords.
Neil Barber
Edinburgh Secular Society
WHITHER (or wither?) Scots law?
As a law student in the early 1970s (just as Enoch Powell and Tony Benn shared an anti-Europe platform in the lead-up to the 1975 referendum), I was taught that Scots law was developed on a base of civilian (Roman-Dutch) law from the 13th century onwards, and had a deductive principles-based approach.
After almost three centuries of being governed by Westminster, and despite Scots law being protected by the Treaty of Union, common law (inductive) English ideas have influenced Scots law, so that we now have in theory a mixed civil/ common law system. It was thought by academics at the time of entry to the European Community that Scots law was in an ideal position to provide a bridge between European (civilian) and English (common) legal systems. How naively optimistic could we be? Instead we have seen the common law of England erode the civilian Scottish system more and more, and now as we leave the EU we hear nothing about Scots law whatsoever, only that we will henceforth be ruled by the British (English) Parliament by British (English) laws.
Holyrood, with the benefit of cut-and-paste technology, has also sponsored an inappropriate quantity of English laws for Scottish people.
The sooner we all get up to speed on our historical legacy and rehearse our arguments for a return to Europe, as an independent nation state, the better. Thanks to The National for providing a platform for this to happen.
C Walker
via email
LESLEY Riddoch answers her own question: “What competent premier could ignore a spiralling problem like the situation in Kent?” (Channel chaos highlights how ill-prepared the Tories are for crisis, December 24).
READ MORE: Lesley Riddoch: Kent chaos shows how unprepared for Brexit Tories really are
The man involved is obviously NOT competent, and should be replaced before he leads the UK down any more blind alleys.
Margaret Forbes
Kilmacolm
MY apologies for attributing the Wee Magic Stane to Morris Blytheman (Royal bums have been crowned sitting on a lavvy pan lid, December 28). It was, of course, Johnny McEvoy, as pointed out to me by no less an authority than Jim Mclean, folk song satirist and impresario. Morris wrote Coronation Coronach and many more, like Jim and John.
Donald Anderson
Glasgow
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