Member-only story
Rule(r)s of our decisions
Rules may help us make better choices, but they can also restrict our freedom. That makes for complex situations
In these tense coronavirus times, job losses are, sadly, not big news in general. When it concerns the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, though, that is unusual enough to deserve a mention in the news. Dr Catherine Calderwood had been caught by the police, travelling to her second home in Earlsferry, an hour’s drive from her main residence in the Scottish capital Edinburgh, during the lockdown. This was not essential travel.
She had broken the rules, and although her boss, Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon, had first said she could stay on, Dr Calderwood, who had held the post for the last five years, resigned on April 5th.
Rules rule our lives
A tough consequence of what might have looked like a minor — insignificant even — transgression. For what was the actual harm in what she did? The drive in her car, with just her family, was most unlikely to raise anyone’s risk of infection. And even if she had visited a store at her destination to collect provisions, that risk would have been barely different (and potentially lower) than the equivalent in Edinburgh.
