The perils of taking what may seem like one step forward

Our political leaders appear to be getting too many big decisions wrong these days, writes Jim Duffy

It feels to me that we are living in a period in world history where we take one step forwards and three steps backwards.

Let’s kick off with Covid-19 eh? What a farce. First the UK locks down too slowly. Remember the horse racing and all the procrastination over what to do. Care homes and GP surgeries literally in limbo. Building Nightingale hospitals that lay empty. “Wash those hands – and all will be well. Face masks are a waste of time, er no actually get them on.” Social distancing is two metres. Well, maybe it’s not always now. Boris Johnson bumbling about, while his right-hand man Cummings does whatever he wants. Let’s not forget that one – ever. But, they gave us a few months off on holiday with furlough, right?

Do you really think that the Chancellor sat with a whiteboard and a few mandarins and worked out furlough? No,thisemergencyfinancial response was sitting in a file cabinet marked “an idiot’s guide to pandemics”. A complete emergency planning response file will have been pre-planned and rehearsed on tabletop exercises.

And so many of us thought he was clever. But, the emergency response manual doesn’t provide for paying it all back. Get ready for the Tory tax raid.

And it certainly doesn’t consider not eradicating the whole epidemic within our islands. Late-night raves, idiots not adhering to the coronavirus restrictions and a general sense by many that they can do what they ruddy well want means Covid-19 is still here. It is going nowhere. Just like the Jet2 aircraft no longer travelling to Spain. And the government doesn’t have a slick manual for this. They’re back to winging it and it’s like watching the Benny Hill Show ending with Boris taking everyone on the road to nowhere.

That will be Covid-19 then. And we will still be talking about it in years to come. Like I say, one step forward and three steps back.

This week also saw the big four tech companies “brought to book” in the American Congress. What a complete farce! Do you actually think that the US will censure its top performing Nasdaq companies? Not a chance in hell. This has nothing to do with the likes of the lumpen proletariat like you and me. No, this is solely about politics.

Facebook, Twitter, Apple and Google are massive deals in and for the US. Why? Because they’re born in the US. That’s it – game over. They’re not Chinese or Iranian. They make a lot of people a lot of money.

But, it’s not the money that has precipitated these hearings. No, it is power. The Democrats and the Republicans are showing these platforms that it is them who runs the roost, not the platforms themselves. Why? Well, we have about 100 days till the US presidential election. An election that can be won or lost on Google, Facebook, Twitter and Apple.

So, while we may hope that Facebook is diligent with our data and doesn’t host anti-semitic ads, the Republicans will only be happy as long as it doesn’t come out in favour of the Democrats and put Joe Biden in the White House. Conversely, the Democrats will be happy as long as it doesn’t take Putin’s money and keep Trump there. You see, it’s still the same old games, but just shrouded in a different wrapper. It’s not about you, it’s always about them – the politicians. One step forward and three steps backwards.

And what about Scotland? It seems eight cats out of ten liked how