I know, I know, it’s just click-bait. It’s just what journalists do to enable corporate profit. There are times, tiring, I think that, but then I remember that headlines like that might cause real damage.

If some people believe them and become dispirited by them, they may become more casual in their covid hygiene. So, I rebut them in the hope that at least one person is not deceived by them.

In 2014 and before, the Herald had a clear anti-independence, anti-SNP agenda. Nothing was allowed to stray from that.

Today, things are chaotic, anarchic, laissez-faire, free market. We still get the most outrageous lies from the likes of Gordon and MacLellan but we also get the subtle duplicity of Macwhirter. We get, as we did not in the past, reports like the one from Hannah Rodger yesterday, recognising the achievements of the Scottish Government, no ifs or buts.

You, they, might argue that’s balanced but it’s not. The anti-ScotGov stuff is based on lies and distortions while that which gives them due credit is based on reliable evidence. You wouldn’t allow the pro-smoking lobby to ‘balance’ medical evidence would you?

Scottish Government pays to advertise life-saving advice alongside a Herald headline suggesting it has been a waste of time.

Scottish Government pays to advertise life-saving advice alongside a Herald headline suggesting it has been a waste of time.

So, when you see McArdle’s headline today and read on, you discover that it’s fake news presented in an effort to attract readers and clickbait. Professor Bauld who features heavily in McArdle’s piece does not say anything like that headline and I suspect she might be horrified by it and the potential effects of it.