THESE are difficult times and all of us are struggling in some way.

I’m fatigued by it, finding it all rather depressing, and it must be far harder for others. People are enduring and making huge sacrifices. It’s therefore galling when others flout rules and threaten us all. Some may have excuses but many don’t and the imposition of fixed penalty fines on them is welcomed.

But what irks the most isn’t the odd individual that’s foolish. It’s when the rules don’t seem to apply to the rich or privileged. During this pandemic, we’ve seen cronyism practised to a quite disgraceful degree by the Tory Government. Friends and donors seem to be first in line for contracts and yet all too often fail to deliver.

This was shown last week in Parliament. There was the disgraceful situation of free school meals in England, thankfully called out by the outstanding Marcus Rashford. It didn’t apply in Scotland but south of the Border it seemed that public funds were being used to take food from the mouths of hungry children. If a business in East Lothian had acted like that, folk would have been demanding the police investigated or trading standards intervened.

It put me in mind of the words from the great Woody Guthrie song Pretty Boy Floyd: “As through this world I’ve wandered, I seen lots of funny men. There’s some will rob you with a six-gun, and some with a fountain pen.”

I also took part in the Financial Services Bill debate and used those very lines. It was an opportunity to address corporate crime which was sadly rejected by the Government. It’s unfair that small businesses, never mind ordinary people, are prosecuted for minor matters but big corporations escape.

Whether the financial crash, rate fixing or other abuses, big business has been let off the hook. The legislation and resource isn’t there to pursue them. There’s dirty money swilling around London and illegal actions in boardrooms going unpunished. That’s not right and must be addressed.