ON my last visit to the supermarket, which was the last for perhaps the next few months, I saw what I consider to be the real epitome of being British. And no, it wasn’t Eton banter about “pushing down on the curve”, nor pseudo-Eton sadness about “some of you will die”.

It was the simple act of one of our older Scottish citizens adding to a growing pile of food for the food banks that previously had been left unusually empty, as food and other provisions for personal and family stockpiling had taken precedence for customers.

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The item in question appeared to be a swiss roll, the usual available preferred basics for the food bank having already being cleared from the shelves.

That this stockpiling and its resultant shelf clearing was justified by reason of underlying health and potential self-isolation in its entirety seems unlikely.

What is clear is that with the British Kingdom’s Johnson (Donkey-in-Chief) assisted by Cummings (Chief-of-Donkeys) in charge, many Scottish citizens will perish. What sorts of key voter donkeys would vote for these two as the leaders for trade and/or health? I suspect sufficient voters were the sort that were taunting the Spanish police by refusing lockdown.

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That there was no coherent EU plan, or British plan, or Scottish plan for Covid-19 is now self-evident. We should therefore expect in due course that the EU nations will go forward with an EU directive requiring that all EU nations must have a plan, must identify who will be responsible for that plan, require the plan to be published for public comment, and require that key aspects, such as bed availability, ventilators, personal protective equipment, food dissemination and testing be identified within any plan.

Scotland should undertake/welcome such a plan, being separate but interdependent from any, if any, rUK plan, just as it would do under EU membership. Given the possibility of a vaccine being produced, and given the extent of vaccine deniers, citizens of Scotland would likely require vaccine stamps or vaccine cards to go with their nice new black Kingdom of Britain passports when visiting the EU. This also probably means that rUK citizens would need such paperwork when visiting Scotland (EU).

I cannot be sure that the elderly Scottish citizen was a “No” voter (but the wealth of the local area and demographics suggest this is likely), nor even whether she will live long enough to vote again. That she cares for others is undeniable, but whether she would vote contrary to the advice of the Donkey-in-Chief, and vote Yes for self-determination, will I suspect now come down to how safe she and others would feel in an independent Scotland.

The prospect of Scotland being an independent EU nation may therefore likely now be largely determined on the technical delivery of both public health and public safety, to a currently unlawful level of spending, by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament. This is a huge ask of Scottish Government, and the Scottish Parliament, not least because it is suggestive of the “unlawfulness” of Catalonia.

Stephen Tingle
Greater Glasgow

THE situation we are in with school closures, employees working from home and many self-isolating will have knock-on consequences for a forgotten sector of society who do a critical job – our bin men/women. I am old enough to remember Glasgow bin strikes of the 1970s, which were nothing short of horrendous for the local authority and all residents. They resulted in germ spreading, infection and a major issue of vermin. So amidst our current crisis, we must recognise the part played by this in keeping us all safe and well.

Catriona C Clark
Falkirk