Look after the weak and we will be strong
Nicola Sturgeon has won deserved praise for her handing of the coronavirus crisis.
She has led her Government from the front and above all delivered clear and compassionate information to the nation, even if every decision has not, with hindsight, been perfect.
The First Minister’s mum has today told the Sunday Mail that she can see the toll the job is taking on her daughter as she attempts to navigate the country’s greatest challenge in decades.
Boris Johnson by comparison blustered his way through a few press conferences before retreating into self-isolation, where he now seems increasingly content to remain irrespective of his Covid-19 symptoms.
His Government dropped the ball on an early response when rigorous testing, contact tracing and isolating could potentially have avoided the economically devastating lockdown we are now enduring.
The Tories continued to fail to provide life-saving personal protective equipment to frontl ine workers and getting the infrastructure in place to deliver the widescale testing regime to get us out of this mess.
It should be remembered, however, that the Scottish Government has been equally guilty on some of these counts, while escaping the same degree of criticism.
Meanwhile today, 13 residents of a single care home lost their lives to a coronavirus outbreak raises a catalogue of further shocking questions ministers must answer.
Top of the list is why none of these elderly victims was tested or taken to hospital despite Health Secretary Jeane Freeman repeatedly insisting NHS intensive care capacity is not yet a problem.
Have these mums, dads and grandparents simply been deemed not worth saving due to their age or underlying health problems? Is it now Government policy to allow our weakest and eldest to perish?
The mark of a decent society is how it cares for its most vulnerable.
There needs to be a fast and thorough investigation into the tragedy at Burlington Court, and everything possible must be done to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Hard Labour
Keir Starmer has a massive job on his hands after being elected Labour leader as his party fights for its survival.
He has inherited an organisation in crisis, and will have to convince a country in crisis that he can turn things around.
Remember that Labour’s finest hour came when Clement Attlee swept to power in 1945 to create the NHS and much of the welfare state that survives to this day.
Starmer may well find himself in the same boat when the country next goes to the polls due to the coronavirus pandemic – only if he can regain the public’s trust.