Sun, rain and politics - a heady mix this summer

We’re seriously at odds with China, a woke generation is on the rise, and the Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon hits 50 admitting she is concerned about going through the menopause which she describes as ‘a big mystery’.

Yes, my readers will have guessed, I’m on my annual holiday to Scotland where, much like home, pandemic news is everywhere yet nothing seems as important just now as Ms Sturgeon’s big mystery, just as Boris. a year in power this week, expresses his concern about opinion polls showing some liking for the idea of Scottish independence. One Scottish commentator wrote this week that ‘things are not getting better with any great haste in Holyrood, Our powerhouse Parliament is never more animated than when it is talking about itself or rather shouting about itself in the direction of another Parliament’. Shouting in Parliament? Our politicians at Stormont could show them the way when it comes to making themselves heard. Mrs Sturgeon would like ‘more SNP unity’ as a new pro-independent party is working towards a Holyrood ‘super majority’ of MSP’s in favour of breaking up the union. She’s not happy, but few women like being 50. It saps their patience. I refused a birthday party for mine, regarding it as the end of the world. She has her hands full. Shops here have re-opened and pubs are getting back to business, but many think she took too long making up her mind about it.

Some parts of Scotland are suffering more than others. Girvan, for example is going green with weeds and the town’s poorly patched broken footpaths are a hazard. Few shops are open yet its population shows patience with politicians. At home we wouldn’t put up with such neglect. So far on this sailing holiday we’ve encountered an unprecedented lack of sailors making their way to various popular spots. Many marinas are half empty due, no doubt, to the lockdown which for marinas lifted only days ago. This delay has reduced the numbers of sailors even putting their boats in the water which in turn has affected revenue for shops, pubs and entertainment venues. A second lockdown could be curtains for many marinas. It’s at times like these that negativity can set in. I’m usually quite buoyant at sea when the weather’s beautiful and the sea isn’t trying to turn us over. But there is a great sadness when I see how small seaside communities are suffering, places I have visited over the years and whose progress against the odds I have admired. One local I struck up a conversation with said the people are angry but impotent to do anything about the public sector hierarchy, still in their jobs, earning more than Boris Johnson. ‘Surely to heavens they could even cut the grass and repair the footpaths,’ he said. ‘The independence argument could wait’. It could, but I suspect it won’t.

I would like to think that it’s people like this that Boris listened to on his visit to Scotland this week. He could remind the Scots of the extra billions in extra funding it got with their furlough scheme funded by the Treasury. But nothing’s ever straightforward in politics. An independent Scotland like a united Ireland might be worth holding celebratory parties for but the hunger and deprivation could come later. What has happened during the Covid-19 era with millions unemployed could be as nothing if the former really did reach fruition. So this annual holiday – we’ve been sailing Scottish waters for well over 40 years – has lowered my mood somewhat and perhaps it has taken an invisible virus to prove to me that politicians often aren’t up to it in a crisis, so why should the people trust them with something as important as independence or unification?

Three hundred years ago out of fear of what she may do to her power and influence, England’s Queen Elizabeth I ordered the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots. Scots would say Mary got it wrong but Elizabeth wasn’t right either. Could the same be said for the two sides in the independence battle?