Covid: Light at the end of the tunnel as good news keeps coming – Vladimir McTavish

We are still in the grip of the pandemic. In fact, readers in West Lothian will just have been moved up to Tier Four.

Donald Trump's political dreams seem to be ending in a (golf) bunker (Picture: SWNS)

However, there is a genuine feeling amongst many that we may be glimpsing light at the end of the long dark tunnel that has been 2020.

The past ten days have brought us so much good news. There have been successful trials of vaccines for coronavirus. We have seen the back of Donald Trump, Dominic Cummings and The Yorkshire Ripper. And Scotland have finally qualified for a major football tournament for the first time this century.

There may be no panto this year, but we have not been short of pantomime baddies to boo off the stage. Cummings has already packed his bags and gone, but Trump shows no sign of moving as he still refuses to accept defeat, holed up in the White House.

After the President claimed he had tested positive for Covid, he quickly went back to addressing rallies and meeting his supporters. Now supposedly free of the virus, he seems to have spent much of the past fortnight self-isolating.

Over the last four years, comparisons have been made between Trump and Adolf Hitler. And it now seems that they dealt with defeat in much the same way.

Hitler spent his last days hunkered in his underground shelter, refusing to accept that the Allies had won the Second World War. Trump, when not tweeting about being cheated in the election, has been hiding on the golf course. Both of their careers came to an end in a bunker.

There is much speculation that Trump may boycott Joe Biden’s inauguration in January, only the second time in recent history that an ex-president has failed to witness the swearing-in of his successor. The previous time was the inauguration of Lyndon Johnson, when John F Kennedy had a pretty watertight excuse for not turning up.

Biden may not be the most inspiring or exciting politician on the planet, but he is a great example of someone refusing to give up on their dreams. He has been trying to reach The White House for 36 years, having first run for president in 1984. In UK terms, that is akin to Neil Kinnock finally becoming Prime Minister.

Apologies to younger readers who may not recognise the name, but Kinnock was the leader of the Labour Party for nine years from 1983, during which time he lost two elections to the Conservatives. His ambition to move into 10 Downing Street ended in 1992. That’s a long time ago. In fact, it was six years before the 1998 World Cup, the last major football festival to feature a Scotland team.

Finally that long wait is over for the Tartan Army, and the country has been given something to celebrate. For three whole days, we were on top of the world, until Scotland resorted to type and lost their next two games.

Don’t worry, I’m sure those results were just a blip, or maybe the players were hungover. They’ll all be ready for the England game next June. Bring it on!

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