The World This Week From Mennies

Sunday 22 March 2020

Corona virus, Alex Salmond, Kenny Rogers

So here we are another week on and quite a different country than it was a week ago, We are now belatedly in a more stringent phase of the fight against the Corona virus with schools being closed and just on Friday a suggestion that pubs, clubs and Gyms by closed. For that reason, this will be coming from a bunker somewhere in the West end of Dundee instead of Mennies, my usual weekend pub of choice.

Friday marked the virtual closure of my coach and bus business and laying off drivers. An action which was not in the least pleasant as most of these guys have been with us for many years.  Hopefully we can put the company into cold storage until things improve. This was necessitated by the closure of schools where we have substantial contracts for the conveyance of pupils and the cancellation of most of the  private hire work such as weddings and sporting events which are also being discouraged.

These measures although not pleasant to implement, are necessary and I have been advocating them for several weeks. The distasteful element is the fact that they should have been done long before now and because of the indecision by both the UK government and the Scottish government many people will die unnecessarily. They are both making it up as they go, and only three weeks ago it was their policy to allow the Heard immunity theory to take place, whereby a very large number of people would be infected and thereby become immune. Now the problem was that without a vaccine being available, there was absolutely no reason to believe that there would be a natural immunity following on from the infection and there would be literally hundreds of thousands of deaths. Simply a mark of criminal incompetence to cover up the lack of proper preparation of both governments. Hopefully once this is over these people will be brough to account.

This week saw the defense case in the Alex Salmond trial being made and indeed Alex Salmond taking the stand. The trial was also now open to the public as the questioning of the accusers who have anonymity was at an end. The testimony given by Salmond was basically that the accusers were lying and indeed from both his questioning and the questioning of the accusers it did seem to be very clear that there was substantial doubt as to the motives of some of the accusers. I honestly believe that regardless of the verdict, once the identity of the accusers and their positions in relation to the leadership of the SNP things will become very clear.

However, the defense ended their case and the Judge summed up sending the jury home for the weekend. No doubt they will return a verdict during the early part of the week. I am hoping that it will be a clean sheet for Alex for without that, the future of the independence movement is in very unsafe hands. This coming week for various reasons will be one if the most important weeks in the history of Scotland.

On Friday, the death of Kenny Rogers was announced. A fantastically gifted writer and singer who brought a great deal of pleasure to many people the World over. He wrote many songs, but the one that I will always remember is “The Gambler” and the reason is that, to me is sums up my over half a century in business. The events on Friday when I had to virtually close down one of my businesses (well two actually) brought the words of that song back to me. Let me leave you with a few lines of that song.                   

 “Son, I’ve made a life
Out of readin’ people’s faces
Knowin’ what the cards were
By the way they held their eyes

“If you’re gonna play the game, boy
You gotta learn to play it right

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealin’s done

Kenny Rogers

So, to all my friends wherever you are on this very fragile planet of ours. Be safe in these uncertain times, be careful, follow your governments advice regarding social distance keeping, and isolation where required. Learn to enjoy the simple things in life like a walk in the Park (away from people) A breath of fresh air at night with a view of the stars, All the things you never had time for in the past.

We will get through this, although some of us might not see the end of it. Once it is over, I have a feeling there will be a greater appreciation of true friends and I look forward to catching up with as many as possible.

Slainte