By George We must all protect the most vulnerable
Today marks a change in requirements for face coverings in Scotland.
Today the legal requirement to wear face masks in places of worship, marriage ceremonies, civil partnership registrations, funerals or commemorative services will end.
There will be further changes over the next few weeks for other public places.
This will be a phased change to rules, but we must not be under any illusion that the virus or the dangers it presents has gone away.
Last week, we had had the highest numbers of infections we have seen.
Many of us have friends or family that are affected with the virus now.
The good news is that those with severe illness having to be ventilated in intensive care has not risen in the same way we have previously witnessed.
The vaccination program has worked, but there are people out there that are still having to be careful, including those undergoing cancer treatments, the immunocompromised and those that have had a transplant.
These people are vulnerable in their everyday lives, never mind in the middle of a pandemic.
Scotland is a caring society. We care about others.
Although it may not be illegal not to wear a face covering, we know that the person next to us in a shop may be in one of those vulnerable categories.
Being considerate is something we will always do when there are those around us that may need a bit of extra protection or reassurance that they may go about their lives.
●We had an announcement last week that the Scottish Child Payment will be increased to £25 per week and then be extended to eligible children between the ages of six and 15 by the end of this year.
This payment is unique to Scotland, the only place in the UK where child poverty has been targeted in such a way.
The payment was initially £10 per week, but with increasing pressures on the poorest families and the removal of £20 from Universal Credit, this was increased to £20.
Now with increasing cost of living, inflation above six per cent and fuel costs going through the roof, Social Justice Secretary, Shona Robison, increased the payment to £25.
This increase has been found from the fixed budget Scotland has been issued with from Westminster.
When we make changes such as this, there is no prospect of borrowing or increasing the budget to make these decisions.
Local councils have more borrowing powers than the Scottish Government, something the Westminster parties are more than happy to enforce in case we continue to press for a more socially just Scotland.
This would put their decisions up for scrutiny against a government that wants to eradicate poverty,
not increase the gap between rich and poor.
Bankers’ bonuses going up, oligarchs increasing their wealth beyond what a 100,000 people could spend in a lifetime, taking money from shady donors, vast profits being created by massive online retailers and energy companies.
There are levers held at Westminster which could tackle this that they just do not want to use.
While all these individuals, organisations and companies increase their massive wealth, who does Westminster target?
They target those with the least, grabbing £20 Universal Credit, increasing National insurance, disproportionally hitting those that have the least, that don’t own newspapers to get their demands across. From what we have seen from Westminster over the last few years, it is impossible for them to feel any shame.