Sturgeon goes for Tier 5, of course

The Scottish government will introduce a five-level coronavirus alert system from November 2, the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has confirmed. The levels will range from a baseline “level zero”, where people would be able to meet indoors with eight people from three households and most businesses would be open, to level four, where non-essential shops would be forced to shut but schools would remain open.

Given the similarities between Sturgeon’s “levels” and the UK government’s “tiers”, some have accused the First Minister of playing constitutional politics with the crisis and using every opportunity to diverge from the rest of the UK. In her own defence, Sturgeon noted that New Zealand and Ireland also had a five-level system. Is it a coincidence that both are small, independent nations? New Zealand has four levels of alert. Make of that what you will.

Scotland has come a long way since the hubris of the summer, when the SNP government adopted a “Zero-Covid” strategy. “I think we are not that far away” from eliminating the virus, Sturgeon said in June.

Devi Sridhar, an adviser to the Scottish government, went as far as to say that Angela Merkel should follow Sturgeon’s lead. “Germany has done very well so far, and we have learned a lot from Germany,” she told German paper Der Spiegel. “But now my impression is that you, too, are just trying to keep the number of cases low instead of getting them to zero.

“You let the milk simmer. Why don’t you go one step further and try to eliminate the virus in Germany?” She added: “We are trying to convince the rest of the UK to adopt Scotland’s strategy. Northern Ireland is already doing quite well.”

Germany, which did not follow Sridhar’s advice, is today dealing with a smaller coronavirus spike than Scotland and Northern Ireland, which have both seen some of the highest infection rates in the UK.

Sturgeon and her advisers should of course have room to fail, but there’s an important lesson here about those who claim to have all the answers in this crisis.

Retail sales surge

Despite increasing coronavirus restrictions, UK retail sales rose for the fifth consecutive month in September as consumers flocked to buy household goods, DIY and garden items. There was a steady, 1.5 per cent increase in retail sales between August and September, according to the Office for National Statistics.

In a sign of the resilience of the Britain’s consumer economy, total retail sales were 5.5 per cent higher than they were in February, before the pandemic hit. In the last quarter, retail sales volumes increased by 17.4 per cent compared to the previous three months,  the biggest quarterly rise on record.

Food stores and online retailers should expect more good news in the coming months with consumers expected to divert money that would usually be spent on hospitality and tourism towards household goods.

A nation of generous shopkeepers

Downing Street has clearly crossed a moral line in the eyes of the public over its refusal to provide free school meal vouchers to the poorest families over half-term and Christmas. Many people will reasonably ask how the Tories can justify this position while it is government policy to shut down the workplaces of struggling parents.

“I do not believe in nationalising children,” declared one Conservative MP in a parliamentary debate over the matter on Wednesday. In response, Marcus Rashford, the 22-year-old footballer leading the fight for food vouchers, appears to have privatised his campaign.

Over one hundred cafes, bars, restaurants and other private enterprises across the country have volunteered to provide free school meals, from The Gilt Rooms in Essex to Berry’s Tearoom in Cumbria. Larger companies have also chipped in, with Burton Albion FC providing 100 free packed lunches a day and McDonald’s UK offering one million free meals. Maggie Pagano has more on how Rashford is running rings around the government. See below.

Let’s allow ourselves a moment to take some pride in our fellow countrymen and women. This is the British spirit in action – long may it live.

Have a good weekend.

Mutaz Ahmed
Political Reporter