AS Gordon Brewer seemingly struggled to interrupt Jackson Carlaw in full rant mode when interviewed on Sunday Politics Scotland, the pantomime appeared complete when the focus of Mr Carlaw’s extreme ire became clear.
It wasn’t the nearly 70,000 Covid-19-related deaths that have now tragically occurred across the UK, it wasn’t that the UK would not now be granted an extension beyond December to EU trade talks due to the ideological intransigence of his party at Westminster, it wasn’t even that a second poll in a row showed 54% in favour of Scotland determining its own future, it was the apparent “catastrophe” that the Scottish Government had not yet carried out “quarantine checks” on recent arrivals from abroad. That public health officials in Scotland were not granted immediate access to UK border-control data by the Home Office seemed of no concern to our erstwhile used-car salesman poorly masquerading as a serious politician.
READ MORE: Jackson Carlaw slammed for blaming SNP for Home Office issue
Not only was the fact that the UK Government suddenly introduced blanket quarantine regulations following minimal consultation with the devolved governments also unsurprisingly overlooked, Mr Carlaw attempted to bolster his threadbare case by wrongly stating that Scotland was the only one of the four nations that had not carried out “quarantine checks” on arrivals; to date only Public Health England has claimed to have made any such checks. The UK Government, in attempting to centralise control at every opportunity, has exacerbated a distressingly deficient pandemic preparedness by repeatedly causing unnecessary delays. It was only recently that the devolved governments finally gained access to “UK Lab” testing data acquired under their own health jurisdictions, and local councils in England are only now being given “full access”, on a weekly basis, to test data that is essential for rapid contact-tracing.
Perhaps it is time for Mr Carlaw to direct some of his pent-up frustrations at those in his own party governing at Westminster with whom he boasts to have some influence?
Stan Grodynski
East Lothian
I FOUND myself laughing out loud when I watched Jackson Carlaw’s attempt at righteous indignation on Sunday.
He was complaining that the “nasty” SNP government hadn’t carried out any quarantine follow up checks since the regulation came into force.
He seemed to ignore the fact that the Home Office hadn’t provided the security clearance needed before the checks could be done.
More importantly, he has totally ignored the fact that his Tory government has allowed more than 20 million people to fly into the UK since the start of the pandemic. All of these people have entered the country with absolutely no checks and certainly no follow-up.
I suspect that Mr Carlaw sees himself as being a strong leader, but he is more like Scotland’s Hyacinth Bucket of politics.
Harry Key
Largoward
IT has taken a long time for the Tory government to realise what has been happening in Scotland.
Their own briefings were public relations exercises that conveyed little useful information to the public as they appeared to be delivered by any minister who had nothing better to do at the time and often hardly mentioned the pandemic, with follow-up questions from sympathetic reporters or submitted in advance by members of the public.
READ MORE: BBC rebuffs Scottish Tory calls to end daily coronavirus briefing
In contrast, the Scottish daily briefings became established as the shortest possible route for passing relevant information from the Scottish Government’s Covid Response Teams tothe public.
Delivered by Nicola Sturgeon, backed up by Jeanne Freeman and Jason Leitch, or others with in-depth knowledge of their fields, the Scottish daily briefings are now an important and essential part of the fight against the pandemic in Scotland.
These clear and concise briefings have kept everyone in the loop on the current situation and regulations with full explanations of any changes when they are made.
Although many of the press questions in the unscripted Q&A sessions are obviously politically motivated, they are also an essential element in keeping the Scottish public better informed than people anywhere else in the UK.
John Jamieson
South Queensferry
YOUR article by Andrew Learmonth regarding the protesters at the Border encouraging people not to enter Scotland because of Covid-19 was said to have infuriated senior figures in the SNP, and I can well understand their dismay (Carlaw demands FM condemns protesters, July 6).
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon condemns Scotland-England Border protesters
Looking at the picture in The National, where a group of people are waving the Saltire, attached to it is a yellow flag showing the SNP symbol, which immediately makes the protest party political. For months Nicola Sturgeon has done a wonderful job in keeping party politics out of the Covid-19 pandemic but at a stroke these mindless protestors have undermined what she has achieved. I assume the protestors are SNP members, otherwise they should not be waving the SNP flag, and immediate action should be taken by SNP HQ to address these concerns.
Alan M Morris
Glasgow
IF, as Mr Morrison says (Letters, July 6), the seabed under the 6,000 square miles of North Sea stolen from Scotland by Tony Blair and co still belongs to Scotland, could someone in the Westminster government please tell us when they will either return the sea to us or take their sea off our seabed? And at the same time, perhaps they could return all the oil and gas, or their equivalent value, which they have stolen from our seabed.
P Davidson
Falkirk
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