Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Scott Begbie: Idiots on the train simply ignored corona warnings

Post Thumbnail

I expect any day now to see a coronavirus graph showing that the fewer days to Christmas, the higher the level of public recklessness.

It seems too many fools have decided the rush to spend, eat and drink in the run-up to the December 25 negates the need to cover their faces, keep their distance and protect everybody from Covid-19.

This was best summed up in a single train journey from Stonehaven to Aberdeen at the weekend.

The first clue things were getting lax came with the queue of people waiting in the stairs up to the platform to stay out of the rain.

Sardines was a popular party game at Christmas parties. Looks like it’s making a comeback with rail passengers.

Personally, I preferred to stand outside in the howling storm than breathe in air that had been in a dozen or so sets of lungs before mine.

Even outside, though, people were crushing into a shelter marked “out of use”.

And things went from bad to stupendously worse once we got on the train. We had gone to the front carriage because it looked nice and quiet.

It would have been, had it not been for a rabble spread across two tables, shouting and yelling at each other,

Not a mask among them, of course, because that would have cramped their style when it came to drinking their bottles of MadDog 20/20.

It was when they started strutting up and down the aisle, still shouting to each other, that we decided to move carriage rather than run the risk of becoming coronavirus victims courtesy of a chav outing from Dundee (you could tell by the accents).

Normally, I’m a live and let live cove, but that behaviour warranted alerting the guard. It wasn’t just annoying, it was dangerous.

The nice chap calmly told us our friends next door had been clocked by CCTV and would be met by the police in Aberdeen.

And so they were… with the train doors closed until the cops had got on.

We walked past on the platform and looked in the carriage to see the now chastened group sitting quietly as they were spoken to.

Next thing they were being escorted off the train and on to the southbound platform, one assumes to be put on the next train back whence they came. And quite right too.

They hadn’t so much ignored the rules but smashed through them. No face coverings on public transport? Strike one. Drinking on a train where alcohol is barred? Strike two. Travelling out of a level 3 area? Strike three… you’re outta there.

Apart from anything else, this bunch of Muppets were stupidity squared. They didn’t have the cunning to be quiet about what they were up to…

And let’s be frank about what they were doing… putting the health of people in Aberdeen at risk just because they wanted a Christmas day trip.

No one likes the current restrictions, but they are there for a reason.

For pity’s sake use common sense and stay safe, Christmas or not.

Struggling addicts are worth a bit of kindness

We’ve all done it… seen someone stotting down the road and muttered to ourselves “just a junkie”.

But it isn’t, is it? It’s a person. It’s someone’s son or daughter, mother or father, sister or brother.

Someone who needs helped, not ignored, who needs an outstretched hand of tolerance, not shunned.

No one chooses to become a drug addict. It is something that could happen to anyone. It could be someone we loved.

So when the head of Scotland’s drug deaths taskforce says society is guilty of ignoring and neglecting addicts, we all need to listen.

Professor Catriona Matheson was appointed in the wake of Scotland’s dire number of drug misuse deaths, the highest in Europe. That shames us all.

We should be demanding action, not resting until this hideous death toll is stopped.

And the first step to that, as Prof Matheson says, is showing more compassion.

People are losing loved ones to this scourge and we, as a society, cannot just look away and dismiss it as nothing to do with us.

Instead, we should be looking at every option, including legalising drugs to keep them as safe and regulated as possible, and out of the hands of criminals.

Let’s keep people alive, let’s reduce the risks to drug users, let’s stop the stigma.

See the person, not the problem.

Brexit has become Britain’s shame

So we’ve gone from an oven-ready Brexit deal to deploying gunboats to protect “our” fishing waters.

What more evidence do you need that Boris Johnson and his grizzly gang are out of control?

How can we have shifted from being part of a trade alliance with modern, forward-looking nations to this jingoistic sabre-rattling?

Is this, seriously, what the people who voted to leave Europe wanted?

No matter what happens in the Brexit talks, the United Kingdom is a busted flush on the world stage. Prepared to break international law, prepared to jeopardise peace.

Shameful and unacceptable.

This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.