One of the troubling legacies of the pandemic is the awful impact on public services.
Covid exposed dreadful inequalities in our schools and catch-up plans for pupils are essential.
The strain put on the NHS was immense and the payback is a massive backlog of operations and treatments.
The SNP/Green government needs to ensure staff are at the heart of rebooting public services but the indications are that workers are not coping.
A survey from Unite the Union has revealed 86 per cent of ambulance workers had carried out shifts in excess of 12 hours.
This was a rise of 10 per cent since the union’s last survey just seven months ago.
Nearly 80 per cent said that they had considered leaving the service, while 89 per cent felt fatigued at work.
A second union, the FBU, has also sounded the alarm about troubles ahead for the fire service.
The Government’s spending review gave this frontline service a funding freeze until 2027, which the union warns will have devastating consequences.
They claim it will lead to job losses, longer response times and more people dying from house fires.
Nicola Sturgeon’s Government makes a valid counter argument by pointing to stingy Westminster austerity as a reason for budgetary pressures.
But ministers could do more to grow the economy and find creative ways to make money available.
A stressed and anxious workforce is not the way to rebuild our stretched public services.
Best fans in world
The loyalty of the Tartan Army knows no bounds.
Some Scotland fans heading to Armenia for tonight’s Nations League clash had to take up to six flights.
Let’s be honest, it’s not as if they are going to see a side on the best run of form.
Last Saturday’s heavy defeat in Dublin was another low point after the failure to qualify for this year’s World Cup.
But when have the performances of the national team made a difference to the best supporters on the planet?
The long-suffering fans haven’t seen their team perform in a World Cup since 1998.
Yet they still turn up in huge numbers wherever the Dark Blues play and back them all the way.
They have travelled across the continent, using every possible route to make a match that is unlikely to set their pulses racing.
Some might question their sanity but what’s for certain is the Tartan Army are clearly fitba’ daft.
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