The Daily Record is now hearing on a daily basis of generous Scots opening their doors to Ukraine refugees - only for the Home Office to slam them shut.
There can be no greater emergency than getting kids out of war zones.
Yet the UK government obsessively insists on biometric passports for mothers and photo passports for tiny babies.
Despite flushing billions of pounds down the drain making emergency payments to fraudsters during the pandemic, the government is not so generous now, in matters of life and death.
Phone lines are under-staffed and shut at weekends.
The existing protocols at the Home Office are designed to shut the door to visa applicants, to delay and dismay them and to put them to the back of the queue.
The good people of Dollar have formed a cohesive and energised group to give a proper Scottish welcome to mums and children, most of whom are leaving their male loved ones back at home, fighting the Russians.
And here we are, keeping their bids for sanctuary on ice, all because we don’t want to risk a few foreign people breaching our fortress-like borders.
The UK is the least welcoming of all European nations when it comes to the Ukraine humanitarian disaster.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has presided over so many callous “keep em out” strategies, it’s obvious that she’s not going to live up to her words of welcome.
The UK needs to immediately change its ways and do its bit for fleeing Ukrainians.
What do you think? Join the discussion in the comments section below.
Benefit is a lifeline
The Scottish Child Payment was only announced in 2019 but it already looks like one of the most important interventions made by MSPs in recent years.
It’s a benefit established by Social Security Scotland and isn’t available elsewhere in the UK.
The motivation is simple - give cash to parents and help drive down the number of children living in poverty as a result.
But many families still haven’t registered for the payment.
Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy makes a strong argument by suggesting benefits should be paid to people automatically.
If tax can be deducted from your monthly wage at source then surely social security can be deposited at the same time.
There’s no hiding the fact this would be a complex system to get right.
But ultimately it could be a more efficient way of ensuring the most vulnerable people in our society receive all the benefits they are entitled to.
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