by Eva Comrie

I’ve no desire to walk let alone sleep on the streets of London. 

My parents eloped there 60-odd years ago but thankfully returned to Scotland for my birth. Traitors’ Gate gives me fear, visions of ordeals suffered by Sir William Wallace and so many others. A shiver runs up my spine at the thought of Smithfield and its horrors. 

But I really can’t stand modern day documentaries of homeless, addicts, gangs, victims of poverty, all the ills we see in the cities of England. It’s unnecessary and politically controlled. My heart goes out to all those who suffer violence, shootings, stabbings, racism and want of any kind. 

Scotland though is not North Britain and it is not Scotland’s job to save England, nor was it ever the task of the Scottish Government to Stop Brexit. That said, Ralph McTell’s words have a poignant relevance to Scotland today. And we should all be ashamed of this. To the core. 

In the space of nineteen days last month five people died in homeless ‘hotel’ placements in Glasgow. These souls were formerly or currently addicted. Each one a daughter or son, sibling, parent, friend. Missed and gone far too soon. There are words and tributes, obituaries, which are being written unduly early and unnecessarily. Every single day. 

I stood in George Square last year listening to the survivors, the bereaved, the recovering and the supporters. The best way to get a quick heat and some escape? a handful of street valium at 20 pence a pop. 

Little if anything has changed despite the best efforts of the brave, walking wounded and campaigners. Rehab spaces in Scotland are woefully low. 

For Greater Glasgow and Clyde almost non-existent. For 18,000 problem drug users and 133,000 problematic alcohol users there are 23 publicly funded rehab beds. 

23. 

This means one person in every 6565 will have a chance at rehab. Totally unacceptable and unjustifiable in Scotland 2023. 

23 beds to cope with a potential 151,000 of our people whose lives have been blighted by addiction and the addiction is largely fuelled by poverty - remember those numbers. 

The Scottish government spends millions on advice, on wages for middle class spin doctors and experts who weave webs of processes, plans and grand notions about how to address Scotland’s ills. That has become much more than embarrassing; it is counter productive and harmful. Those who are addicted, homeless, poor - each and every one can explain in one word what is wrong with Scotland today. Poverty. 

Repetitive drudge and inescapable inequality. Lack of hope. A dearth of services. Reliance on methadone programmes. Insufficient rehabilitation beds. A dependence on expert view, not lived experience. Childhood trauma leading at times to criminal activity and punishment. 

The Independent Care Review led to reports on what must change, at speed. An independent review of services for addiction and recovery is long overdue. We were able to house every homeless person in Scotland during lockdown; there’s no cogent reason why we can’t do so again - only a lack of political will. 

There are empty Council houses in every local authority in Scotland. Addressing that alone would free homes for thousands. 

We know that life expectancy is determined by childhood experience including poverty - in some parts of Scotland it is falling while, in wealthy areas, it increases. 

Money gives you a longer life. Poverty brings early death. 

London’s streets aren’t paved with gold. They’re lined with homeless people, unless they’ve been cleared to make the pavements tidy for golden Royal carriages. 

Scotland is a country in danger because we discovered oil and became a desert. We need a political movement determined to save Scotland before it’s too late, for the 84%, not the 7%, for the people who deserve ‘breid, barley-bree an paintit room’. We can’t keep carrying our homes in two carrier bags or sitting on the bus all the way from Dundee to Aberdeen and back again just to get a heat because the house is too cold. 

Scotland needs to find her political spine and get up off her knees. We can’t be the old man hugging a mug of tea for two hours praying for rescue - let’s create our own future, write the destiny we deserve, find something to make us all change our minds. 

Then the sun will shine

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Check out official Scottish Government statistics here.