So now we are allowed to visit second homes.......

[Loadsadosh]

Is this a case of do what I say, not what I do......
“The Chief Medical Officer in Scotland, Catherine Calderwood, 51, was snapped strolling across a golf course with her husband and kids after flouting lockdown advice by heading to her coastal property this weekend.”

The response from the Scottish Government......
”An SNP Government spokesman replied: “Since this start of this epidemic, the CMO has been working seven days a week preparing Scotland’s response.
“She took the opportunity this weekend to check on a family home in Fife as she knows she will not be back again until the crisis is over.
“She stayed overnight before returning to Edinburgh. In line with guidance she stayed within her own household group and observed social distancing with anyone she was in passing in the village.”

I am sure everyone else who has a second home would like to use it, or check on it, as well! Am I being unfair in thinking this is double standards and an absolute disgrace that this has been defended by a Government spokesman.

Is it definitely her 'second home' rather than being normally where she lives and she's just been stuck in her Edinburgh pad for an extended period rather than being in Edinburgh normally say from Tues-Thurs?

I wonder whether all the MPs are in their London houses/ Edinburgh flats or if they all went 'home '?

If it really is a 'holiday home' then it shows huge and frightening lack of judgement.

Her Edinburgh “pad” as it was scathingly referred to us a big stone house in Edinburgh’s west end. The other place is a “retreat”.

is a

ah well all those trying to weasel the Royals into this discussion which is actually about the scandalous behaviour from our Chief Medical Officer no less, perhaps they were only "checking" their second homes too...?

I live in Edinburgh- if her main residence is in a nice area as I imagine it is - then her family will be within walking distance or a 5 minute drive of local forests and unused golf clubs

I live in a very nice part of Edinburgh. If one is going to be forced into lockdown, very nice parts of Edinburgh are amongst the most tolerable you can get. The elegant , wide streets and pavements of the New Town and the West End are virtually deserted ; as is the locked private communal gardens to which I have access. You can easily go for a walk in beautiful surroundings and have no problem keeping 2m apart.

Re. the Royals:

They are not the ones who are banging on relentlessly, night after night, telling us what we must do. That’s the point. Calderwood has been discredited.

If you live in Edinburgh, you have a bleeding great mountain in the middle of your city to walk on.

She has weakened the government’s position of authority in telling people what to do. I don’t believe she’s the only one able to do her job and no one else can step in to do it.

I absolutely agree with this.

bellehare

I wasn't being scathing, I was asking the question, for all I know she has a tiny flat normally occupied 3 days a week and fife is the family home.

In which case no less unacceptable ultimately but does put a slightly different complexion on it.

@GrumpiestOldWoman She is living with her husband and kids in a large house in Edinburgh - doesn't sound like a small week day only flat!

No it doesn't rose , I'm surprised she had time tbh, I imagined all these politicians and advisors working 7 days at the moment.

She is no longer to be the public face for advice here in Scotland but will still work with the Scottish Government.

This makes me so angry as I haven't even used the ruddy car since going into lockdown. Can't see my mates. Only walking from my house. After 2 weeks of it I'm already going stir crazy.

My MP (rural Wales) is staying in their London residence as are the staff they have down there; obviously there are some in the county as well. They've made a point of saying so to show how seriously they're taking this.

Yes how strange Sturgeon whining on as if she's the only medical advisor she has. Chris Whitty has been off for over a week and his deputies have managed just fine.

What would be more sensible would be sacking Calderwood for her numpty behaviour, and letting Chris Witty and the Jenny lady (Harrison?) offer advice which is relevant to the whole of the UK. Because they are all singing off the same hymn sheet, giving the same advice. We have Ms Sturgeon and Catherine Calderwood giving a press conference every day, saying exactly the same things as Witty, and Raab and Johnson and whoever else telling England and Wales.

However, Ms Sturgeon is never in a month of Sundays going to agree to that because it undermines her "Scotland is different, Scotland is separate, Scotland should be independent" mindset. FFS, they've even named the Nightingale Glasgow after some obscure nurse nobody's ever heard of, just because she cannot cope with it being named after someone from elsewhere in the UK.

Welcome to nationalist Scotland.

I'm not a monarchist but Charles isn't giving us all advice or making rules for us all to follow. He also lives in Scotland quite often although they don't usually announce it. I knew someone who worked for him and I was surprised how often him and Camilla stayed at their Scottish home.

Pineapple please tell me you're joking. You're complaining of political point scoring whilst politically point scoring. And complaining about being petty about the name of a hospital whilst being petty about the name of a hospital.

Are you in Scotland? because if you are then you'll know we have a separate health service. We have completely different figures for the virus and we have different demographics and geographical challenges than England. This isn't a time to try to point score as you're doing. It's a time to deal with the realities of where and how people live.

What's wrong with naming a hospital after someone from the city where the hospital is being built?

FFS, they've even named the Nightingale Glasgow after some obscure nurse nobody's ever heard of, just because she cannot cope with it being named after someone from elsewhere in the UK.

The field hospitals are not all going to have the same name. How stupid would that be? It’s bad enough with supply issues atm without having half a dozen hospitals with the same name.

GrumpiestOldWoman

for all I know she has a tiny flat normally occupied 3 days a week and fife is the family home.

A cursory glance at the “clapping” photo of her family today shows you she must have a rather grand Edinburgh house, given the street and houses glimpsed behind it. Elsewhere In the press we're told it’s in the West End. The house in Fife is described as a retreat which suggests it is the second home, surely.

The journo who used the word “pad” was being scathing - or sarcastic - not you. I used inverted commas.

Health is devolved in Scotland. I hope those who clearly do not know that, do not live in Scotland.

Earlier I said that she shouldn’t be sacked although she did need to apologise. I’ve now changed my mind. Two trips in two weeks shows a complete lack of respect for the rules. Her rules.

And it wasn’t even for a good reason! If she had been sitting in her terminally ill mother’s garden then I’d have some sympathy. But she wasn’t. She just fancied a nice weekend break.

Most of us have things that we are not doing that we really want to do and that we suspect would be pretty low risk. But we don’t as we realise that if we all stretch the rules then that’ll have a massive impact and people will die. Some people are sacrificing massively to do this.

She has to go. Her position is untenable.

Re: the royals. I don’t much care what the queen, Charles and the Cambridge’s do. Because I don’t listen to them. I don’t care what they think. They are rich, privileged randomness who are vaguely useful in pulling in tourists and protecting our democracy. But the CMOs are people I respect. I listen to what they say and I follow their instructions. They need to be people that we can trust and rely on in this crisis. And I don’t trust her anymore.

Calderwood is going to be reassigned to looking after paperclips at weekends. All the videos made for many thousands of public money featuring her face will be junked and they will start again with an honest face people can believe in while Calderwood whispers to Sturgeon from the wings.

If a person lives in a flat in city centre but has a holiday home in the same area. They would be still within the same health care district and using same shops. The holiday home has no neighbours anywhere near and loads of nature. In this case it's unnecessary travel to go there, but it kind of makes sense to stay there instead of primary residence. Opinions?

She’s clearly lied actually, with the initial “something needed done” excuse