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.

Breaking news - she's apologised:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-52171694

Well, she’s put out a statement apologising, saying she had ‘reasons’ but she accepts they do not justify her actions. Good move on her part I think.

This could actually be the single most damaging thing for the lockdown. People everywhere are now reassessing what "essential" means, if the expert giving the advice thought this was OK....

'think if you don’t calm yourself you’ll end up in a cardiac unit! Your ! must be wearing out!!!!!!B twnot all nurses are exhausted angels,considering hospitals have cancelled all ops and appointments many are less than half full, not every hospital is teeming with C19 patients'

'Loonies, prefects, Nazis', now we'll end up in cardiac units? Scots, it's you that needs to calm down.

The Scottish CMO has cocked up massively. She needs to explain/apologise (if she doesn't resign) then only hope people follow her advice to stay at home when she doesn't do that herself.

She is part of the rule making group. It is hypocritical to them break/bend the rules to suit yourself.

I’m not allowed to my static caravan on the sheppey coast and I accept that - but for how long will I accept it until I become resentful and break the rules - just like our leaders have.

@JKScot4 I’ll use as many ! as I like!!!
Do you really think that what she has done is acceptable?

Just watching her on her Coronavirus information guidance on the tv. On it she is telling everyone to stay at home and to only make essential journeys! Isn’t it double standards to tell everyone else to stay at home, whilst she takes her family away to her second home??

Definitely disappointed in her & expect the press & other parties out with SNP to challenge this tomorrow. She has done a great job but her actions are hypocritical

They shouldn't be making excuses for her. If you are setting policies it's. to a good idea to go round breaking them.

She should do her mea culpa, and hopefully be able to move on, but it was seriously misguided.

We have a second home not far away from Elie. We saw what was coming and the week before lockdown we cleaned and cleared it out of perishables, shut off heating and water, put shutters up and mothballed it until the autumn. We read the meter and informed our utility supplier that future bills will have to be estimated. We won't be going back. The area is full of old people and we can't put them in needless danger. Having the whole village hate us will not make for future harmony xx

She has now issued an apology on Twitter, admitting that she hasn't followed her own advice.

Is it perhaps something to do with her home insurance? Many policies become invalid if the property is left empty for 30 consecutive days or some such. Not sure if that applies to properties bought as second homes - we have a caravan but our insurance covers empty periods and the park has turned our water off and checking the property daily for us.

Apology is here

mobile.twitter.com/CathCalderwood1?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Yes pelleas linked to it via the bbc above

Not sure if it will be enough. Is her credibility shot or can she recover?

TBF MysticMeghan she was probably a bit busy that weekend.

She should resign as she now has no credibility in giving advice.

We left our house empty while we lived abroad, nowhere did the insurance say the whole family and all our pets had to visit and go for lovely walks to the West Beach (or equivalent local beauty spot).
She has now apologised unreservedly, but I can’t help thinking she’s just sorry she got caught.

I really don't think she needs to resign. She made a mistake and has apologised.

The SNP shouldn't have tried to defend it. It was a poor decision made during a period of intense work pressure etc would be OK but there's no way to justify the whole family going on that trip and staying overnight.

The fallout of this could be huge if they don't get the message right, in terms of everyone else seeing that the expert advisor thought it was fine, even if she has since been forced to apologise. She obviously didn't see a problem with the actual action she took, so why should everyone else follow the rules when the expert who wrote them doesn't think they're important enough to comply.

This will be bigger in bringing a full lockdown than the groups in parks IMO (although of course no one will admit that)

It’s not a mistake but a decision to flout the rules. Which presumably she knows.

People will think (including me to an extent) why should I keep to these rules when the blimming CMO doesn’t?

*before I get castigated, I am sticking to them even though they are very shite for me

I think her problem now is one of credibility. Every time she says “stay at home, simple message” the whole country will think “not simple enough for you”. It’s a pretty huge mistake which clearly shows she doesn’t entirely believe her own message.

Yes, @Chemenger, that sums it up well

In the terminology of human error it’s not a mistake (doing the wrong thing believing it to be correct) it’s a violation (knowing and understanding the rules but choosing to break them).

The amount of people branding others Nazis for calling out people who are blatantly breaking the guidelines is pathetic.
Nazis killed millions of Jews indiscriminately,
Sympathisers/ informants have information knowing that they were sending them to at best exile.
It is no way comparable to people complaining about or even reporting people for failing to follow government guidelines during the worse pandemic for a century and it’s highly offensive to compare them.

This woman is setting and promoting the guidelines and to flout them so blatantly and allow her family to do so Alongside her would make me seriously question her judgement. Either she Is so arrogant she thinks rules don’t apply to her or she is so stupid she doesn’t understand rules she herself has set. Either way she is clearly not fit to be in charge and should be removed immediately.

Of course this hypocrite should resign or be sacked. She has no credibility at all now.