Covid: After a grim year, we now have vaccines and some reasons to be cheerful – Ian Murray MP

I’m sure I won’t be alone when I say that I’m delighted this is the last day of what has been a terrible year.

Margaret Keenan, 91, receives her second dose of the Pfizer/BioNtech Covid vaccine at University Hospital, Coventry (Picture: Jonny Weeks/NHS England/PA Wire)

If someone had told us this time last year what we were to expect from 2020 we would never have believed them. Coronavirus has engulfed all of our lives.

The consequences will be far reaching and take years to resolve but we can look forward with some optimism.

Wonderfully, 91-year-old Margaret Keenan from Coventry, the first person in the UK to be given the Pfizer vaccine, has received her second dose and the Oxford University vaccine has just been approved. Hopefully, that signals the beginning of the end for this dreadful virus.

We all make New Year resolutions and I think this year demands a collective resolution. One of 2020’s few silver linings is the way communities have come together. It has been humbling and inspiring to see everything from small acts of kindness for neighbours to mass community mobilisation to look after those most in need. The Evening News paid tribute to so many in their “Edinburgh Hot 30” list.

So, our collective resolution should be to maintain this community cohesion and spirit when the virus has long gone.

Reflecting back on 2020, I suppose it can be seen as the year that taught us about what we value most.

What lockdown has done is forced us all to slow down a little. The cut and thrust of modern life, with having to be here, there, and everywhere, was replaced by reacquainting ourselves with what it’s like to be at home. And despite being confined to our homes we have rekindled or made new relationships with our neighbours while clapping for our NHS or sharing trips to the shops.

It has also allowed us to spend more time with our immediate loved ones. I’ve had almost every day with my daughter since she was born and it’s been wonderful. It has been tough not seeing extended family, even harder for those not able to see elderly relatives or those in care homes, and for those that live alone, but we have spent more time together than we otherwise would have.

We’ve used some of that time to invest in personal passions. I wonder how many more people can now speak a second language, navigate their way around a piano, or paint a picture.

And we have all re-assessed what is important in life. We know we can’t operate without our frontline workers in all sectors and the NHS is just the most cherished thing we have.

I think there is also a renewed vigour for our planet. The lack of travel has helped but the genesis of the virus itself maybe allows us all to pause and reflect on how we treat animals and our environment.

I suppose you could call these reasons to be cheerful.

But, whatever you do tonight, there won’t be any first footing and you may have to link arms to sing Auld Lang Syne with just your own family rather than any passing stranger in the street.

Please stay in your own household and stay safe. That way we can all look forward to a happier and healthier 2021.

Happy New Year.

Ian Murray is Labour MP for Edinburgh South

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