The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Saturday Shockwaves to Our humanity
Like many of us, I spent a fitful night watching the United States presidential election drama unfold. “What is wrong with the world?” I asked at dawn on We d n e s d a y. I’ve been watching, and asking, ever since.
For a long time it was “too close to call” and some states now face recounts. When a two-vote majority got Stephen Gethins reelected SNP MP for NorthEast Fife in 2017 it seemed indicative of the size of Scotland. Yet now the fate of vast America could be similarly sealed. It’s a reminder that every vote counts.
The Trump presidency has been a growing shock, not least for what it has exposed. Long was America seen as a standard bearer of liberty and democracy, yet it’s become a deeply fractured society where the survival of self-interest is paramount. And not just America. The ideals of many democracies have eroded just 70 years after the optimism of the postwar 1950s. Under the glare of the coronavirus pandemic governments are being exposed for their selfser ving , venal politics, where good policy is secondary and democracy is mocked into hiding. Never mind the social contract, it feels like a social deconstruct.
Me a n w h i l e , here in Scotland Covid prowls still, as new lockdown measures back people into e ver tighter corners. Behind my house is a tiny corner store, I look over it from my desk. The foot traffic of the community has been my Covid barometer. Many are elderly; pre- Covid, they would stop for a blether with the shopkeepers, who never rushed them on as they hovered by the bread. This was part of their daily human contact, their company and conversation.
It wasn’t just about a pint of milk.
I’ ve watched they negot iated the bewilderment of masks and social distancing and soon they couldn’t linger at all, victims of the pandemic’s two-metre rule in a tiny space. I wonder where else they can go for company now.
The fight against a virulent and mutating virus is uncharted territory for as us all, the shopkeepers, the scientists, and the leaders. People have lost their livelihoods, their loved ones. These are terrible prices to pay.
But when I see pictures of packed streets in the UK in defiance of restrictions, or President Trump and his glazed-eyed faithful, maskless and reckless, it’s these old people in my neighbourhood I think of, vulnerable and careful and lonely, doing their best in a scary world.
Still, we can find hope. It may feel like a belated afterthought but Rishi Sunak’s extension of the furlough scheme, including for Scotland, into March next year will be a lifeline for many local businesses.
And Scotland ’s community spirit has shone in this crisis. The Courier is filled wi t h stories of people doing extraordinary things for others. Take, for example, the organisation Taught By Muhammad, which is on the shortlist for a £2,000 grant from the Participatory Budgeting Dundee to run Support Cafés on Wheels. They hope to take a free weekly meal to the people who can’t come to their usual support cafés, offering not just food but (properly socially distanced) human interaction to the isolated and lonely. Voting closes on November 22 and you can find out more on their Facebook page.
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The digital revolution has made us more connected and more isolated, we have more information and less curation than at any time in history.
Opinions stand as fact, real fake news (thank you, Mr Trump) can triumph while the truth is discredited, and millions
can polish their prejudices unchallenged.
I saw this through the eyes of students recently. DC Thomson has a long tradition of taking on what we call ‘work experience kids’, students who spend time in our newsrooms. Recently we hosted some through the Career Ready initiative and thanks to the same digital technology we could welcome them virtually, they could watch us work from miles away. What struck them was the meticulous process of news gathering and production. They were amazed at the teamwork and fact -checking that defines our work. Social media was their yardstick, full of hate, as one said, where everyone is a publisher and anything can be true. They hadn’t thought of journalism as something credible that exists to serve a community. I hope they do now.
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Our house was banging, hissing and flashing on fireworks night. I felt for the animals like young Bella, the therapy dog at Bell Baxter High in Cupar. Frightened by the fireworks she fled, sparking a threehour search before she was found in a field.
*** Hamish the polar bear has also been on the move, for better reasons. He left mum Victoria at the Highlands Wildlife Park near Aviemore and headed south to Yorkshire this week. Born in December 2017, Hamish was the first polar bear to be born in captivity in the UK in 25 years. He will now share a home with other polar bears at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. In the wild, polar bears leave their mums around this age, so Hamish is pretty much doing what other teen polar bears do.