It feels like we’ve been plunged back into darkness.
With the arrival of Omicron and the resumption of frequent, terrifying press conferences, all those 2020 emotions have resurfaced. It’s oh-so familiar, but there’s nothing comforting about it.
It’s not the taste of nostalgia you get from your granny’s cooking. It’s more like the easily-recalled pain of stepping on an upturned plug.
No matter how many times you go through it, you’re still going to shout and swear when it happens.
READ MORE: Covid in Scotland: Almost 6000 cases in 24 hours as Omicron takes hold
And so, for the first time in my life, I’m all out of Christmas cheer. This time last year, despite the restrictions, I was still whizzing about my house feeling like Mrs Claus.
But it’s gone now and although I’ve tried everything I can think of (sausage rolls, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree and many pints of mulled wine) to get it back, I fear it might be lost for good.
To that end, I went for my booster appointment before FMQs on Thursday. I’m still miserable but at least I’m better protected from this awful thing than I was yesterday.
Nicola Sturgeon kicked things off with a coronavirus update.
She urged the public to get their booster jags and revealed that she is seeking an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss the need for financial support as we navigate this new strain.
Douglas Ross was out of isolation and back in the chamber for the question and answer session.
He asked about mass vaccination centres, which he said had not been reintroduced quickly enough.
"We became the first part of the UK yesterday to pass 50% of over 18’s vaccinated with the booster, we still have the fastest vaccination programme in the UK and we are picking up pace every day," replied the First Minister.
Douglas Ross hit back with a claim that, if the Scottish Government had acted when the Scottish Tories first called for mass vaccination centres, the booster programme would have been rolled out faster.
In response Nicola Sturgeon pointed out that, as we’ve currently got the fastest vaccination programme anywhere in the UK, the current mix of mass vaccination centres, appointments, drop ins and smaller, local vaccination centres is probably the right balance.
"For reasons of staffing, do-not-attends at mass clinics and the difficultly some people have in travelling to mass vaccination clinics – it is not the case that had we had more mass clinics, rather than the several smaller ones, that we would have vaccinated more people: that’s not how it works."
Douglas Ross then went on to ask about financial support for businesses.
After a few tetchy exchanges with SNP backbenchers, he asked: "Will the First Minister guarantee that business with receive that £100m of support before Christmas?"
By this point Nicola Sturgeon looked like she too was running out of Christmas cheer. And patience with the Scottish Tory leader.
"We will get out the £100m – that with great difficulty we have managed to find from other budgets – as quickly as we can. When I last stood in this chamber, we heard the Treasury was going to give us additional money. Douglas Ross seemed to think that was a great wheeze. What we now know is that we are poorer after that Treasury announcement than we were before. We will get the £100m out as quickly as we can but it’s not enough – which is why we need the Chancellor and the Prime Minister to DO THEIR JOBS to get proper financial support in place for businesses as quickly as possible."
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