Let the Scottish Government be the Baddie

Although Calton now lives in Edinburgh he grew up on the west coast of Scotland and still has relatives in the Highlands, some of whom earn their livings through tourism. So he has a dog in the fight when it comes to Covid-19 and its effect on the Highlands and Islands. He understands the concern of those who live there when faced with an influx of sasunnachs wanting to escape the virus. Unfortunately the way that concern has been expressed runs the risk of doing long-term damage to the industry which many in the Highlands depend on. Hand-made posters saying "tourists go home" will not be forgotten once this pandemic is over and neither will flat motorhome tyres. Visitors were not buying up all the food in the shops - the locals were managing to do that for themselves quite nicely well before Easter and the traditional influx of tourists (which the shops are geared up to cater for). Fears that sick visitors would swamp local health services were legitimate but, here's the thing, this should have been addressed by the Scottish Government, that SNP Government voted in by a majority of the Highlands, and not left to individuals or communities to deal with themselves.

The Scottish Government closed the schools on Friday 20th March, the forecast for that weekend was superb and yet those in power didn't seem to realise that a considerable number of people might, quite literally, head for the hills (or at least the carpark at Nevis Range). It wasn't until Sunday 22nd that the Government announced a ban on non-essential travel, including travel to second homes, and even then, their Chief Medical Officer thought that the advice was optional. That left vulnerable rural communities across Scotland unprotected for two whole days. It's not surprising that some of them decided to take the law into their own hands but it was extremely unfortunate and unwise.

Now that the travel ban is in place and is being enforced by Police Scotland, Calton would like to see all the unwelcoming signs taken down. Let the Scottish Government and the Police be the baddies, not local people. That's the smarter way to handle this. Covid-19 is decimating the tourist industry right now but it won't last long. A bad reputation will last a lot longer and the effect on the Highlands will be much deeper.

On Competence

Calton has no doubt that the First Minister was sincere when she said how much she supported health care workers and wanted them to have the correct PPE in her press briefing today. Unfortunately sincerity doesn't provide PPE - competence does and Nicola Sturgeon is a bit short on that quality. She's great at presentation and carefully crafted speeches - her responses are slicker than her hairdo and more pointed than her shoes - but this Covid-19 crisis is showing her up for what she is - all fur coat and nae knickers.

What Scotland needs right now is a leader who gets things done. What we've got is someone who talks the talk but can't walk the walk. Nicola Sturgeon is all show, from the top of her immaculate hairdo to the tips of her stiletto heels. When she was Health Minister some described her as a helicopter - landing with lots of noise and disturbance, staying for a few minutes then taking off again in a flurry of rotor blades. Now we have Jeane Freeman who has provided guidance about what PPE to use and a helpline to report it if you don't have PPE but doesn't actually seem to have managed to provide PPE. Less helicopter more submarine, sinking without trace when what the troops need is a Hercules, full of supplies.

Sturgeon's response to a letter from 100 medics about PPE was basically "I understand and I will act". If she doesn't do the latter and do it soon, she and her Health Minister will look like WW1 generals, miles behind the front line, saying everything is fine when thousands are dying. It's not a good look.

The Smell of Exceptionalism

Since Catherine Calderwood is obviously an intelligent woman, Calton is diagnosing her deliberate flouting of the lockdown travel laws not just once, but twice, as a bad case of elitism. Nicola Sturgeon, on the other hand, is suffering from a bad case of exceptionalism. Just as the Prime Minister and other Tories defended Priti Patel on the grounds that she was doing a jolly good job, and Dominic Cummings overlooked the dubious online background of Andrew Sabisky because he was a "superforecaster", so the First Minister tried to keep on CMO Calderwood because seemingly she couldn't do without her and, of course, she was doing a jolly good job. Big mistake.

The current extreme restrictions being placed on the general public rely on the idea that we're all in this together. There can be no exceptions, none whatsoever, because if a single exception is allowed, others will follow. It is an unfortunate British trait that quite a lot of us think that rules are good but they don't apply to us. We all have a tendency to think we are the exception. Police Scotland get this, which is why they didn't waste time hot-footing it round to Calderwood's residence to 'have a word'. Nicola Sturgeon doesn't get this. Even at today's press conference, when specifically asked about the damage done to the Government's message and the need to rebuild trust, she didn't get it. Instead, although she was more in control today, the image of her as a wee girl who can't bear to be parted from her best friend lingers. She didn't show leadership yesterday - she stalled, prevaricated and, finally, about 12 hours too late, reacted to public opinion.

No-one has put a smell on Sturgeon - they don't need to. She reeks of exceptionalism with a whiff of cronyism and fear.

PS. And lest anyone accuse Calton of having  it in for Sturgeon, he's also extremely suspicious of the haste in which more than one Tory MSP, including Jackson Carlaw, is seeking to draw a line under this whole sorry affair. Are there some Tory-voting second home owners thinking "there but for the grace of God" and changing their plans for this coming weekend?

Calderwoodgate

Calton is so mad he could spit nails. After nearly two weeks of looking longingly over the Forth to the Fife coast when all he could do was a once-a-day flight round Arthur's Seat he finds out that the SNP Government's Chief Medical Officer has been nipping across to Earlsferry for the weekend. Twice. During lockdown. She has now, quite rightly, been spoken to by the police and has offered her resignation. Astonishingly, the First Minister has refused to accept it in a colossal error of judgement which is, as Calton writes, turning the episode into a question about Sturgeon's decision rather than the original offence.

Sturgeon is usually a canny political operator who is perfectly willing to throw someone under a bus if they get in the way and so it is a measure of how rattled she has become with the Covid-19 pandemic that she has made such a poor decision in this case. She should have sacked Calderwood immediately or at least accepted her resignation with alacrity. Surely there are other suitably qualified people in Scotland just as able to give her advice? Such as Professor Hugh Pennington?

Presumably the First Minister hoped that today's press conference (described as "excruciating" on Radio 4 news) would put the whole thing to bed. She was wrong. A quick scan down the associated twitter hashtags indicates that far more people think #Calderwoodshouldgo than the minority who see this as a media conspiracy to bring down Sturgeon. More worryingly for the SNP, a number of people are now saying that they will henceforth take their guidance from Westminster, not Holyrood, when it comes to Covid-19. Calton has a lot of sympathy with that view. In a crisis like this, are the devolved powers a help or a hindrance? In Scotland it looks very much like the latter now. Sturgeon's response to the Calderwood incident may well prove to be her Watergate.