A WEE query concerning an article by Richard Mason (‘John Swinney urges Scots to exercise ‘caution’ as international travel resumes’, May 24).
I have already had Covid although in a reasonably mild form. It left me completely washed out and exhausted for about four weeks but, nevertheless, my body obviously built up its own antigens and fought the disease off. I have also had both my vaccine jabs.
It appears that John Swinney is implying that If I travel abroad, I could bring back the virus. How so? If I have had all the jabs necessary, am I not immune and therefore unlikely to either contract Covid again or carry the virus in my system? I thought that getting the jab was the main means of preventing the spread of the virus. Am I wrong?
READ MORE: John Swinney urges Scots to exercise 'caution' as international travel resumes
What’s the point in waiting until Covid is over before we have our referendum if we are still all likely to be carriers? Does this mean we are still liable to be subject to restrictions for years to come – just to be on the safe side? At this rate Covid is never going to be over and we are never going to have our referendum and gain our independence. Could it be that this has become just another excuse for the Scottish Government to kick indyref2 further down the road while still appearing to be all in favour of it?
Could we please see some steps being taken now in preparation for the possibility of independence actually happening? Maybe a Scottish National Bank, owned by the people of Scotland through the Scottish Government, that we could all take out an account with, instead of having to use banks that are subsidiaries of English Banking groups.
READ MORE: There are no shortcuts to persuading a solid majority of voters to back Yes
Bank of Scotland – owned by Halifax building Society – which, in turn is owned by Lloyds Banking Group, English; Royal Bank of Scotland owned by Nat West Holdings – main shareholder Westminster Government; Clydesdale Bank – now owned by Virgin Money [Richard Branson], English. Nationwide Building Society is registered as “British” but based in Swindon Wiltshire, England. (If we become independent it will also become English as its head office is in England). Trustee Savings Bank, (TSB) Scotland, is also a subsidiary of Lloyds banking Group, English.
Or, perhaps, some sort of plan to re-nationalise the Post Office with a Banking arm, as there presently is – although it’s on a much lesser scale than it used to be. Such a “Scottish Bank” could be used to replace the “main” banks that are pulling out of many of our Scottish towns and villages.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to wait any longer than necessary for independence and I don’t want the independent country we get to be a “subsidiary” of English banks and other English financial corporations. That way we would still be dominated by the vagaries of the Bank of England through the English Companies and not an independent Scottish way. Maybe if we saw some preparations, we could begin to believe that independence might just be on its way!
Charlie Kerr
Glenrothes
TALK of the death of grassroots sport may look a bit of an exaggeration however there is a real threat to our clubs. How can this be?
This week my sons were contacted by Test and Protect to inform them that they had been in close contact with someone who may have Covid.
They were advised to self isolate and contact a test centre, as were all the lads who had trained with them. So far so good,but here is the issue all the lads were then informed that everyone in their household also had to isolate for the same period as secondary contacts. These people were then told to get a test booked.
Where the issue comes is as there was around 20 lads at training 20 complete households were in isolation.
The situation is further complicated when all the lads received their test results stating they were negative for Covid and could now go about their normal business only to be contacted by Test and Protect to continue their isolation until the date they had been given.
How does this lead to the death of grassroots sports, I hear you ask?
My sons are lucky to have supportive employers for now however if this was a regular occurrence they both know that support will disappear.
If this approach continues players and volunteers will have to decide between supporting their club or their family revenue stream.
One volunteer has already stood down to prevent him and is family being affected by loss of earnings and I know he will not be the last.
The obvious conclusion of this approach will be a pulling away of players and volunteers in grassroots sport, the lifeblood of all our professional teams, leading to health issues and other associated issues.
I would love to lay the blame of this at the door of Westminster however this is a Scottish Government approach and the issue needs to be addressed quickly before under-strain grassroots sports clubs fail.
Ali Cairns
Largs
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel