Scotland’s Covid response was just a branding exercise

We’ve had the foul-mouthed WhatsApps, the misogyny and petty score-settling, but what have we actually learnt from the UK Covid inquiry as it staggers on?

Not a lot, really, about the key issues. What exactly was “herd immunity” and did both the UK and Scottish government’s initially believe in it? Was lockdown, which placed the entire country in a state of Chinese-style house arrest, really necessary or were the social, economic and psychological consequences worse than the disease?

Above all, did the Scottish government, led by the fluent and convincing Nicola Sturgeon, actually perform much better than bumbling and halting Boris Johnson?

This last question should be relatively easy to answer. In a little-noticed commentary last week, Professor David Spiegelhalter, the authority on medical risk,