IT is well beyond a cliché these days to say we’re living in strange times. I’m well aware a lot of people are struggling because of Covid and increasingly angry and frustrated that we’re not out of this yet. It is a crisis that has exposed how a lot of the things we took for granted are actually very fragile. That applies to how we live our lives as well as how politics works and where we fit in the world, and it is not just in Scotland these tides of change are flowing.

Politicians are also not immune from it. Much as some would try to pretend we’re all living in some parallel universe or a bubble, the restrictions and anxiety don’t reach. I and my team have been working flat out to help as many folk across Stirling to access financial support and I’ve been making the case at Westminster for more. Obviously I’ve done that gladly, but I was on a radio programme with a few other MPs and the presenter started with the unusual question of how are we all feeling personally. I was struck when one of the MPs said that as well as having the same personal worries as everyone else, we feel a sense of responsibility and obligation to the people we serve and who are coming to us for help.

I’ve barely seen my parents aside from socially distant walks and Zoom calls. I was midway through a house move to Stirling when lockdown struck, which has subsequently fallen through. Where I had planned a massive amount of campaigning out and about meeting folk and seeing things across my still new constituency, life is an endless series of Zoom chats tied to my desk.

It has been a frustrating time altogether. Some people thrive working from home, I have always hated it. In all my years as an MEP we never paid for a desk for me in Scotland because I was always on the move and have the spare room of my house set up to work from. But I always felt (still do) that where I never really start working I never really stop either. I think it was John Lennon who said life is what happens when you’re making other plans, it has never been more true than 2020.

But amid all the frustration and anxiety, I think a few bigger trends are coming through. People are, right now, making big choices based on what they think the new normal is. Friends of mine are already being told by employers that they will not be going back to the office and working from home is now the norm with a couple of days hot desking in smaller offices to ensure teams don’t become just virtual. This has huge impact on a lot of other things.

People are, already, moving away from the cities to other places. We’re seeing the housing market in Stirling firing away as people move out of Edinburgh and Glasgow now they’ll only be commuting in a day or so a week. Local authority finances are heavily reliant upon business rates and if there are a lot fewer offices then the hit to business rates will be significant, and that’s before you factor in the sandwich shops, dry cleaners, cafes, restaurants and pubs that service the office crowd. This will mean local authorities will need to find new revenues from somewhere.

Transport too will be different – for a lot of the working population the twice-daily commute has just been a fact of life. Now it might not be, or certainly not as regularly. That means fewer carbon emissions, which is good, but it also means less revenue for the transport companies on top of having to run socially distant buses and trains. Can the transport companies even stay commercially viable? I’d suggest not, and the case for public ownership has never been stronger.

Public services too are different – schools and universities are back, in the sense that things are happening. But the university experience is really different and I would say well below what it should be, with a lot more teaching online which is just as expensive to produce but less of a learning experience. Schools have looked at blended learning and, thankfully, we have not so far had to go there, but the risk remains.

The NHS is coping and that is a miracle in itself but the delivery is going to be different – I was in Callander last week visiting a drive-through flu shot service where the local surgery had taken over a car park and people could drive in for the shots. Another surgery is organised for those without cars because the practice building itself cannot have hundreds of people congregating in it while they wait.

Speaking to the doctors, already a lot more consultations are being done on the phone and other medic friends of mine say they are doing most of their consultations by FaceTime or Zoom.

Retail too has gone through a massive hit. My folks now buy their groceries online and if my folks can manage click and collect then there will be a lot less need for retail space really fast. This will lead to a collapse in shopping brands if they do not adapt – more jobs in packing and delivery but a lot fewer shop assistants or staffing tills. Is this a boost for online? Yes, and given the massive hit to public finances by this change we’ll need to start taxing them accordingly and doing it fast. I think the case for a windfall tax on online retailers who have done so well out of the last months is beyond doubt.

So we’re living through a disruptive event, and I increasingly don’t think there will be a normal to go back to. It is all of our collective challenge to make sure we manage these changes and remember that the economy exists to serve society, and who we elect to make and oversee decisions on behalf of society really matters.