Philippa Whitford

WHILE during lockdown, many people have been struggling with enforced inactivity at home, others have been working hard to keep critical services functioning. The clapping on a Thursday night started for the NHS, but it quickly expanded to recognise social care workers and then all those who keep us safe and supplied with what we need. One thing this crisis has brought home is a recognition of who the REAL key workers are.

AS well as the appalling death toll in the UK, the coronavirus outbreak has resulted in the biggest economic shock since 2008. The response to that recession was a massive bailout of the banks, with little support for individuals or small businesses, and led to a decade in which the rich tripled their wealth while ordinary people faced insecure work and low pay.

AS the coronavirus pandemic has come to dominate our lives, there are lots of stories and quack ‘cures’ circulating online and causing an infodemic of misinformation. But the way to beat this virus is to use the medical knowledge and understanding of epidemics which goes back to the days of medieval plagues.

LABOUR and the Conservatives argue endlessly about whether the NHS in England is being privatised but, according to the World Health Organisation definition, there is no doubt!

AFTER yet another defeat in Parliament, and with just 40 days to go until “Brexit Day”, the Prime Minister and her Government are fast running out of road – and the threat of no deal is hanging over all of us like a sword of Damocles!

THIS year has once again been dominated by Brexit which has now progressed, if you can call it progression, from being a shambles to a complete bourach, as the meaningful vote was pulled at the last minute by a Prime Minister who knew she couldn’t win!

As the 27 remaining EU states meet today to consider the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration, we need to consider the mechanisms by which Scotland’s life boat can be launched to escape this Brexit Bourach.

WHEN you mention the word “health” most people think about the NHS but health is about more than the absence or control of disease – it is about real physical and mental wellbeing. Of course, this is oversimplistic but our chances of good health are often determined by policies that are totally unconnected with the NHS or health policy which is why I am such a believer in the approach of “Health in All Policies” across all levels of government.

Day Two of our series on the 70th anniversary of Scotland’s NHS