Covid inquiry: Politicising of trivia distracts from important issues

This kind of thing did not seem to happen with inquiries dealing with events in the pre-digital-messaging age. The evidence examined by the Infected Blood Inquiry included oral statements, minutes, letters, written records of oral statements, medical records, and other formal and official sources. That inquiry does not appear to have spent months trying to track down things like long-binned Post-It notes, scribbles on the back of envelopes, or non-existent recordings of informal phone calls. Why should inquiries in the digital age get hung up on the digital equivalent of Post-It notes?

READ MORE: Tories accused of ‘hypocrisy’ over Alister Jack’s WhatsApp messages

It goes without saying that the press, BBC and even STV have copiously reported (and helped to create) shock and outrage at Scottish Government deletion of WhatsApp messages, while playing down Westminster doing the same thing. It is to be hoped that this was NOT what the inquiry intended. A cynic might wonder.

I am baffled at why those clamouring for the retention of all communications, no matter how trivial or non-relevant, think that this is desirable or even physically possible. It would lead to systems being overwhelmed and real issues being totally lost in an ocean of junk data.

The real problem is that this incidental politicising of trivia has diverted attention away from the pressing issues of identifying how effective or otherwise measures to combat Covid were, what ought to have been in place BEFORE the pandemic, and what needs to happen in future, when further pandemics are inevitable and quite likely to be worse.

Maybe we urgently need an inquiry into the conduct of the Covid inquiry! Let us hope that the Scottish Covid inquiry does not get bogged down in the same kind of morass.

Jim Hunter
Ayr

HOW dare she! How dare Nicola Sturgeon, a wee lass from a working class-background in Scotland, during the worst pandemic to engulf these islands in a century:

•Get her sleeves rolled and get stuck in.

•Show leadership, and take responsibility for her and her team's actions.

•Do her best for the people of Scotland, literally working night and day.

•Have daily briefings, taking questions from every, predominately hostile, member of the press and media who turned up.

•Say that Boris Johnson is a f***ing clown.

•Have our own PPE procurement strategy and never run out (including supplying care homes, private included).

•Not oversee a procurement policy that was subject to possible abuse on an industrial scale.

•Not have assisted in creating a reputed £12 billion mountain of unusable PPE.

READ MORE: Has Covid WhatsApp row ‘ruined’ Nicola Sturgeon’s legacy?

And the most heinous of all, after being subjected to five hours of questioning where her honesty, integrity, sincerity, and motivations for her every action during the pandemic was doubted or portrayed in a negative spin – and also being asked to relive what must have been the most terrifying experience, where lives were at stake – she dared (dared!) to show emotion.

I for one will always be indebted to her and her team for their work during the pandemic. Did they get everything right? Possibly not, but it wasn’t for the lack of trying, and anyway you only manage to get everything right with hindsight, which seems to be in an overabundance, especially from those who were posted missing.

One final observation. The alternative was Alister Jack. But we would have been okay, as in his own words, he is “a delegator”.

Sandy Wilson
via email

I CANNOT allow a recent comment made by Alister Jack, the Secretary of State for Scotland, my local MP, go without challenge. National media of all colours have reported on him mocking a female politician for showing emotion. Even worse, he appeared to imply that such emotion was less than genuine.

My challenge is not politically motivated in any way, it is disgust that a man can attack a woman for being human and for showing her feelings. This turns the clock back so many years, to when both women and men were considered weak if they had anything other than a “stiff upper lip”.

READ MORE: Alister Jack in 'clear breach' of ministerial code over lobbying row

There are countless women who have been viewed as less able, less professional, less intelligent and less mentally stable for showing their emotions, especially in the workplace. Given the increased understanding of mental health issues and the serious impact of bullying, mocking, running down and personal attacks, Mr Jack should first of all apologise for his comments and secondly think seriously about how they are not only offensive towards that individual but also the very many other people who may now bottle up their feelings and suffer as a result.

Indeed, it may be a case of careless words cost lives.

Christine Ferguson
Dumfries

I WATCHED most of the interrogation of the former FM at the so-called Covid inquiry, with a good half an hour spent on Whats App handling, which was characterised as dirty dealing. Tory weaponising of the deletion of a few electronic messages is nonsense compared to the dirty dealings every day in the restaurants, cafes and bars in Westminster and the exclusive clubs of London.

The inquiry should have been about how the country could be prepared better if another pandemic arrived in Scotland, but is being turned into a political battle.

Mike Underwood
Linlithgow