The pandemic has seen an unprecedented change to how we live, and record amounts of correspondence floods my inbox every week.
At any other time, people in rural areas like ours are urged to think about constitutional matters instead of those which actually impact on our daily lives.
Things like the state of our roads, our broken bridges, and our empty or disappearing police stations all tend to be glossed over on the TV news and in newspapers.
One exception in the past couple of weeks has been the availability of ambulances, response times, and whether they turn up at all.
Every reader has a story about themselves, a family member or friend who called 999 but were unable to get an adequate response, sometimes with very grim results.
I have worked on behalf of constituents with experiences that shocked and saddened me, who deserved answers and assurances that mistakes would not be repeated.
There is now a focus on supporting the Scottish Ambulance Service and our NHS to get this crisis fixed – and it is high time. The SNP government sleepwalked into the problem even before the pandemic.
That’s not to say I’ve been ignoring potholes or policing, however.
I have urged the SNP finance secretary Kate Forbes to detail whether she is passing on £50 million per year from Westminster intended for councils to fix potholes – no response.
And I held a debate in the Commons about the decline of rural policing here and elsewhere in Scotland. Divisional officers – beat bobbies – have been seen as a Cinderella service for too long, and we can see the results every time we read about an assault on Facebook or see vandalism in person.
It is my hope that renewed dialogue will acknowledge the divide between communities in the north east and the central belt when it comes to services of all kinds.
