By Kenny MacAskill

LIKE every MP, my inbox has been inundated with communications about Dominic Cummings’ behaviour. Most are from people who tell me that they’ve never written to an MP before. Many are very distressing, detailing personal sacrifices made or loss endured by them or their family.

They’re entitled to feel angry as the most tragic part of the coronavirus crisis has been the absence of family and friends during moments of comfort or joy; and that should and normally would be shared.

I recall the joy on my own late father’s face when he first met my eldest son. Many have told me how they’ve had to look from afar or on a screen at the newborn to the family.

Likewise, I remember phoning my brother in Canada to tell him that our dad had died, and he required to make the long and sad journey home to attend the funeral.

Yet, many writing to me haven’t even been able to do that when relatives have died. Funerals have been truncated and many have been denied that final farewell.

When my granny died at the age of 97, the family gathered in the Western Isles from around the globe. It was cathartic and though a moment of sorrow, it brought us together not just physically but emotionally; and those links still endure down through further generations.

The loss of those moments cannot be restored as the moment has passed. Family links will remain, and there’ll be future shared moments of both happiness and sorrow. Thankfully, other actions – from the selfless service of so many through to the wonderful care of the vulnerable shown by so many communities – have helped offset that.

But it’s still why so many were rightly angered at what they had personally forsaken for the common good.

Yet, guidance and even laws were flagrantly flouted by Mr Cummings, and whose actions were shamelessly defended by the Prime Minister. It’s an issue that will not go away, just as the pain or sadness experienced will never be forgotten by many.