A SKINT Scotland, western hoarding and the social care crisis were the issues raised by columnists and contributors in the newspapers.

The Daily Express

Paul Baldwin said Nicola Sturgeon announced her plans for a second Scottish referendum amid a raft - ‘and I mean a raft - of other measures.’

“Ever the consummate operator she talked her way through policy plan after policy plan in an almost nonchalant way - everything from becoming the greenest nation on earth to allowing men to legally self-identify as women no matter what the pesky feminists felt, rebuilding the NHS of course, free bus travel, the end of cars... she was truly building an SNP fairyland,” he said. “She paused neither for breath nor to offer an explanation of how this fairyland might be paid for.”

He said she described her words as “clear plans to lead Scotland out of the greatest health care crisis in a century” - ‘to everyone else it looked like a Santa’s list of what she wanted for Christmas without a whiff of an idea of how it would be paid for.’

“Scotland is skint. And only a politician under massive pressure from the her hardline, right wing nationalists, in a Scottish nationalist party could even think about spending money on a referendum.

“Oh, hang on...”

The Guardian

Jackee Budesta Batanda, a Ugandan writer and entrepreneur, said Africa was paying the price for western hoarding and will endure many more lockdowns until it gets more vaccines.

“Ugandans watched in disbelief as the western countries hoarded their own vaccines, denying millions of doses to countries across Africa in dire need,” she said. “Uganda has only been able to administer 1.3m doses – about 3% of the population. While we have always complained about the poor state of the hospitals and the lack of investment, the pandemic ripped the sticking plaster off our health sector. Until the vaccines arrive in the numbers required, [our 15 million children’s] futures, as for most Ugandans, will remain on hold.”

The Independent

Former Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable said the National Insurance rise did not address the problems wrapped up in the issue of social care.

“The first is lack of support at home for disabled people, the frail elderly and those with long term health conditions,” he said.

He said there was a sense of grievance because those whose condition requires hospital treatment receive entirely free health care while others have to pay because social care falls outside the NHS.

“The government is cynically protecting the interests of elderly property owners who vote for them at the expense of younger, low-income workers who don’t. That could be said to be good politics. What it certainly isn’t is a good and fair policy to “fix” social care.”