covid-19
Return of the experts
‘Science is a vital resource for modelling scenarios and developing medical and technical responses; but for many aspects of decision-making it is contested and uncertain. If we set our scientific advisors up to find policy…
Bipartisan politics is admirable but will cost lives
An open letter to Labour leader Keir Starmer and Scotland’s First Minister from a senior medical statistician urging at least a re-think of their refusal to break ranks with UK Government policy for containing/suppressing Covid-19.
Introducing Ventures in Lockdown
Covid-19 has stopped live music in its tracks. No gigs. No tours. No plans. What is it like to be a musician in lockdown? Writer/Musician Craig Angus opens our new series by asking himself.
Being 90: a poem for a pandemic
‘Perversely, in the wars evoked by politicians it was the flaming of youth untimely snuffed out. Such thoughts emerge from a new poem, written before the pandemic, the reflections of a man in his tenth…
Covid19: reasons to be optimistic (five)
‘To counterbalance negativity, I suggest we also need to look towards the positives so that people can see what has been done, what is working and how things might look in the future if we…
Fairer, greener, more equal but how?
The Scottish Government has yet another new group of economic advisers (on the recovery): it should think more about practical delivery of any new policy ideas, says FAI.
Lockdown and the media
End the lockdown! demands the public Or does it? The media says it does but the author, using original findings, says otherwise…
Lives on the line for less than £10 an hour
‘It is time to start to have a different value system. It would be a system that valued not just the outward but things that make us function well as people. No longer should the…
Distanced but not divided: digital media helps us define our new normal
What will the new normal feel like when the pandemic is over? Can we come together to look after the most vulnerable, can we continue to use technology ingeniously, interacting to support communities?
A room without a view
‘Scotland has the devolved power to follow its own strategic objectives. The question is: does it have the courage and skills to start planning now for an exit strategy which wholeheartedly and comprehensively embraces contact…
Covid19 and the future of capitalism
‘In due course, through triumph or tragedy, the coronavirus pandemic will subside. Is a return to pre-crisis capitalism possible? Perhaps. But would it be worth it?’ asks a writer who experienced the collapse of communism…
Statistics in an age of deference: Covid19 strategy fails true grit test
“The Brotherston Principle demands that Government fully respects its expert advisors, it also demands of those advisers that they draw on the best expertise, work together to achieve a best consensus, and speak out strongly…