By Rab Bruce’s Spider

So Christmas has been saved. Wonderful news, unless you prefer to remain Covid free and avoid contact with others as much as possible.

I can fully understand why the Scottish Government has gone along with this 4 Nation approach. Can you imagine the uproar if the Scottish Government had said, "Naw, we’re staying in our tiered lock down"?

Another reason for the relaxation is that a great many people may ignore the rules anyway, although it could be argued that’s not such a good reason really. However, if the UK Government fears people in England would breach lock down over Christmas, what are they thinking about Hogmanay in Scotland? Or does that not matter?

Not that I am advocating relaxing lock down over Hogmanay, but it cannot be denied that the reasons being applied to Christmas south of the Border apply equally well to Hogmanay in Scotland.

Personally, I’d prefer to stay at home and keep both myself and my relatives safe, although I strongly suspect I’ll be outvoted on that one when it comes to Christmas Day. But the bottom line is that Covid will not care about our annual holiday feast, and all a relaxation of the rules will do is result in another spike. Some may argue that, from a societal point of view, it may be worth the risk in order not to further damage the mental wellbeing of many members of society. Other people are simply fed up of the restrictions. I don’t think there is any right answer to how this is handled, and I don’t think the Scottish Government had any option but to go along with the UK plan. That plan, however, is going to result in more unnecessary deaths. Not that Boris Johnson and his chums will care about that. The whole thing smacks of a publicity stunt, with much of the pressure coming from the media. Let’s hope the majority of people are sensible and restrict their meetings to the minimum. After all, there is hope on the horizon, Why risk things now?