Scotland: Under the twin shadows of Covid and Brexit
Johnson’s bungling bolsters Sturgeon and the Scottish desire for independence
A man carrying a Christmas tree walks past a mural depicting a Saltire design in Leith, Edinburgh on St Andrew’s Day. Support for independence has increased to 54 or 55 per cent. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA
Melisha Squire and Lesley Blues in the centre of Edinburgh: “Nicola Sturgeon has done such a good job, ” says Ms Blues. “But that doesn’t mean I want independence.” Photograph: Freya McClements
In Edinburgh, the silence is everywhere, in empty restaurants and deserted train stations, with people walking quickly by, heads down, and masks on. With such silence, the conversations are all the more precious.
There is the hotel manager trying to keep a hotel running; the elderly restaurant owner with a 30-year-old business left reeling by Covid-19; the fisherman who shrugs, and says, “All we can do is try and help each other.”