MP Drew Hendry: We’ll see people struggle, we’ll also see the best of us
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The Highlands has always been a place of strong community bonds.
We have a tradition, borne out during the pandemic, of caring for our neighbours.
This year will likely be a year when that sense of community will be of the utmost importance to us all.
Festivities over, we return to our daily concerns, and more will be looking at household finances with a sense of worry, perhaps even dread.
It’s almost impossible to stay positive when facing the pressures of trying to pay the bills with little or no ability to do so, and this will be a stressful time for the many affected people and families.
I have written before about the reasons for this daunting crisis: the folly and self-harm of Brexit or the scant disregard for people’s needs on energy while the cash cow of Scotland’s resources was milked and squandered by Westminster, so I won’t go into detail on that here.
We are where we are. We can change our future, that’s a choice you should have.
For now, we will need to rally round as individuals, families and communities. In the year ahead, I know that while we’ll see people struggle, we’ll also see the best of us as neighbours and friends.
With Scotland’s enormous natural wealth and resources, we shouldn’t have to live in a society where we are so dependent on food banks to help people eat. While we are, I would urge those who can to donate and support those who run them. A quick search on Google will tell you where and how to help them.
Naturally, I will keep the pressure on the UK government to fulfil their responsibilities, to do the simple and right things, like matching the £25 per week Scottish Child Payment, among others, both to help those in the other nations of the UK get this support and to, by consequentials, allow us to do more here.
While being kind to others, we also must remember to be kinder to ourselves, to understand that each of us needs to have moments of peace, appreciation, and joy. So take the opportunity to have a laugh when you can, you deserve it.
There is much hard work for 2023 ahead, but also many great people who will do many great things, big and small, among us. Thanks, in advance, to them, to you. All the best for 2023.
