Peculiar polling

When the history of the spring of 2020 is written, it will – or should – show that the discipline and resolve of ordinary people has seen us through – it was the political class who broke ranks first. They just could not help themselves. Now we see the ultimate in unseemly and divisive behaviour, namely the commissioning of a poll to see who is doing better than whom (‘Poll: Majority of Scots think Nicola Sturgeon has done better job

during pandemic than Boris Johnson’, Scotsman Online, yesterday).

The results are astonishing in their clarity, but are a triumph of presentation over reality. Our death rate in Scotland is higher than any other part of the UK, having been the lowest on lockdown, and with us having access to the same resources as everyone else. The death rate in care homes is twice that of England. The outbreak in Edinburgh

in February went unreported and contacts were not traced. Nine hundred patients were released from hospital in to care homes, the very place where there were concentrations of people most susceptible to the virus. Our testing is still only a quarter of target. There is no tracing system in place yet.

All of these issues are to do with implementation of policy in Scotland. The UK government contribution has

been written out, and yet it is they who are paying our wages, they set the strategy which we are all following, with just the smallest of differences in Scotland.

The most likely source of a viable vaccine will come from a laboratory in Oxford, surely the best value £20 million ever spent by the UK government.

All this is true and yet everyone thinks Nicola Sturgeon is doing better. Why is that? VICTOR CLEMENTS

Aberfeldy, Perthshire