By George Paisley sure is our kinda town
That’s Stacey and I finished our last week of ‘staycation’ and I can honestly say it has been one of the best holidays we’ve spent together.
As all of you know, I love Paisley. I was born here, raised here, and I’ve grown into the man I am today right here in our town.
It is always a joke among my colleagues at Parliament when I take literally every chance I get to sing Paisley’s praises – both in and outside of the debating chamber – but becoming your MSP has been one of the biggest honours of my life.
It was a no-brainer then for Stacey and I to use my annual leave as a chance to experience Paisley from a tourist perspective.
We are incredibly lucky to have such a great variety of restaurants and bars on our doorstep so it is important that we all do our bit to make sure these small businesses and independent retailers survive the difficulties brought by Covid-19.
While the Adam clan has thoroughly enjoyed getting out and about, I must stress that at all times safety and caution has been at the forefront of our minds as coronavirus is by no means gone.
As I said last week, I have been very impressed by the diligent efforts and measures put in place by the businesses we’ve visited, but we must all keep this up for as long as it takes.
What we are doing is working, and as confirmed by the First Minister on Thursday last week, the progress we have made in suppressing the virus means that if we stay on track our kids will be able to return to school full time from August.
I know this might stir up mixed feelings in many families but please be assured the Scottish Government has always, and will always, put the best interests of Scotland’s children at the heart of any decision making process.
They have published detailed scientific advice to inform the way schools can re-open safely from August 11 and we will be as prepared as possible by the time schools open their gates.
The Scottish Government is also providing a huge package of £100 million to support schools’ return and this is in addition to the £30 million for digital inclusion and the £12.7 million made available to ensure free school meals continue over the summer.
We are all continuing to do our bit but with schools going back and those that were shielding now able to leave their homes we must ensure we protect others as well as ourselves to continue to drive this virus down.
Let’s continue with our progress.