A Week in Parliament

We have now finished Week 2 of lockdown and it already seems much longer! However, needs must, and we need to do our best to keep ourselves and our families safe. It was certainly disappointing to see reports that the chief medical officer had travelled with her family to their second home in Fife at the weekend. No-one should think they are exempt from the guidelines. Her embarrassment was complete when the chief constable of Police Scotland confirmed police officers visited her to give her a police warning. She has now realised this and stepped down from her role.

Similarly, on the day that Andrew Bowie MP was telling all and sundry on social media not to travel to his Aberdeenshire constituency, Prince Charles racked up at Balmoral and then was confirmed to have Covid-19!

My son, Kyle is in Edinburgh. I would like to take him home cooked food to get by on – in theory I could do this and manage to stay within social distance guidelines. However, I haven’t as a round trip to Edinburgh would be non-essential travel. If I can abide by the rules, then surely the more high-profile people can lead by example?

One bizarre aspect of the lockdown is it seems to give some people more chance to research conspiracy theories – one being that 5G is spreading the virus. Yet, we know it is spread mainly from droplets and a combination of people with infected hands infecting surfaces that other people touch. And if was down to 5G, why is coronavirus all over the world, in countries that don’t have 5G?

Another one is about biochemical warfare from China. If so, why would they infect their own people first? I know China has had some awful human rights abuses and they continue to persecute the Uighur Muslims. However, you do not infect the wider populace with a virus and don’t unleash such a weapon unless you have your own vaccine. So, logic says none of these theories can be remotely true. Although matters are never helped when you have the President of the United States initially dismissing Covid-19 as just the flu and then also calling it the “Chinese virus”! The gauge of serious the situation is that even he is now taking this as a real serious health risk.

Home Working

Now I am homeworking, all the days blend into one – a mass of email enquiries to juggle. My office while working remotely are dealing with hundreds of cases. Hard ones too – businesses struggling; people with no income; people stranded abroad. Unfortunately, all these matters have now confirmed that the UK Government’s financial support packages are inadequate – too many people and businesses are missing out. And it is clear the UK is doing a lot less than other countries to help stranded citizens return. I have brought up many of these matters directly with the Paymaster General of the Treasury in daily phone call sessions and will continue to do so. I promise to work as hard as I can to get the support people deserve.