Opinion Matrix: Pub rules are tough but necessary
REACTION to Scotland’s latest Covid restrictions, the future relationship between the Conservatives and young people, and the sacrifices needed to avoid a second national lockdown were among topics explored in yesterday’s opinion columns.
The Scotsman In its leader comment, the paper said new rules for the hospitality trade would be a tough pill to swallow but insisted Scottish ministers had no choice given the accelerating increase in coronavirus infections.
“It is clear the Scottish Government had to act when confronted by the cold, hard reality,” the paper said.
However, it also acknowledged the move would cause “serious and potentially lasting” damage to an important part of the economy.
“The Scotsman has argued that the hospitality sector – of which pubs and restaurants are an important part – should be a special case for economic support from government,” it said.
“Our economy needs these businesses to survive for the sake of its long-term health as once a business is gone, it can be hard to recreate or replace.”
The paper added that adhering to rules and restrictions aimed at combatting Covid would be vitally important.
“If we do this we will not only reduce the spread of the disease, but we will help make the imposition of restrictions like this less likely and help businesses stay afloat,” it said.
The Daily Telegraph Allister Heath painted a bleak picture of the society which the Prime Minister is seeking to govern.
“Boris Johnson’s dream was to be a One Nation Tory, a Brexiteer Disraeli, a radical reunifier, and yet he now presides over a nation bitterly divided over Covid,” he wrote.
“Most pressing is the increasingly open intergenerational strife that now characterises our response to Covid.
“Almost all of those who die or fall gravely ill from the coronavirus are old, yet the burden of anti-virus policies is falling particularly heavily on the young, for whom social distancing and lockdowns are especially damaging.
“Britain’s united, pan-generational approach may
have been legitimate, noble even, at the start of the pandemic: we were pulling together, helping each other get through a shocking, potentially catastrophic public health crisis.
“But as the months wore on, it soon became clear that the young were paying too high a price, and that there are better, less unfair ways of coping with Covid, by shielding those most at risk or by going down the Swedish route.
“Children suffered enormously until the schools were re-opened, but for now the biggest losers are older teenagers and young adults.
“Prospects are especially nightmarish for students, recent
graduates and almost everybody in their 20s.
“Their lives are being blighted, and yet, to add insult to injury, they are also being widely blamed for spreading the virus.”
Mr Heath said the situation had significant implications for the electoral fortunes of the Conservative Party.
“Birth years can influence political views throughout a lifetime,” he went on, asking whether the current crisis could lead to a “long-lasting” left-wards shift in British politics.
“Johnson’s Conservatives cannot seek to become a ‘yoof ‘ party, but they need to make sure that today’s teenagers start voting Tory by the time they reach their mid-30s,” Mr Heath continued.
Ceasing to blame the young for the second Covid wave, he concluded, would be a good place to start.
“The Government could even thank them for their co-operation: a little humility would go a long way towards defusing what otherwise is bound to end in a destructive clash of generations,” he wrote.
The Daily Express
“What is needed is a national conversation to discuss what sacrifices we are willing to make collectively either in risk of deaths from coronavirus, or to the economy,” the paper said in its leader comment.
“Meanwhile, as individuals we will have to decide what things we want to do and what we give up as a result... The Prime Minister needs to lead that conversation. So perhaps it would be good for him to start the daily briefings again.
“What cannot happen though is a second national lockdown and we need to think carefully about how we avoid it.”
be with us for a long time and we have to live, not just exist. Margaret Weir,
Lanark.
YET another fudge by the SNP. Stop selling alcohol at 6pm, but sell carryouts; however, where will you drink them? No glass of wine with your meal at the hotel but you can have a bottle in your room? Surely if the effects of alcohol is the problem, which it probably is, then the answer is to close all points of sale for two weeks with an immediate ban on the amount bought?
James Watson, Dunbar.
IT’S good to know that our Scottish Government have gone back to “listening to the science” as it prepares to dish out the next dose of lockdown medicine – whether we need it or not. It’s just a pity that the same politicians stopped listening when they were repeatedly told and warned by the same scientists that filling the university halls of residence with thousands of highspirited youngsters was a complete recipe for disaster. Similarly, that this would almost inevitably create a spike in coronavirus cases and kick-start a second wave. Instead of trying to divert the blame for this wholly predictable catastrophe onto the hospitality industry, would it not be more appropriate for our politicians to now, for once, take
responsibility for their irresponsible actions and resign?
DH Telford, Fairlie.
THE people of Bearsden are revolting. The first three letters today (October 8), from Jim Greenhalgh, Jim Martin and Stewart Rennie: all complaining that they’ve had enough of the Scottish Government’s efforts to protect the people of Scotland from Covid19, and all from Bearsden. What is it about Bearsden, are they all immune from the virus? Do they have access to Donald Trump’s magical cure? If so will they let the rest of us in on it?
John Jamieson, Ayr.
AS of October 7, 2020, the UK with its multiple lockdown strategy, had a recorded Covid-19 death rate of 637 per million and a wrecked economy. On the same date, Sweden, which had no lockdown strategy, had a recorded death rate of 577 per million and a functioning economy (figures from Statista).
Now, given that a difference of 60 deaths per million (0.006 per cent) between the UK and Sweden is statistically negligible, there is effectively no difference for epidemiological purposes between having a lockdown and not having a lockdown. Sadly, the same cannot be said of the effect on the economy. Brian D Finch, Glasgow G20.