My day job is in environmental conservation, so it's no surprise that I'd like to use this last chance reach out to the readers of the Musselburgh Courier to say a little about how we can pass on to future generations a country in a better condition than it currently is.

We hear a lot about the Climate Crisis, but there's a global nature crisis too. In Scotland more than half of all species are in decline, and experts predict that 1 in 10 species currently face extinction. That's why I am delighted that Willie Rennie has promised that on the first day of a Scottish Liberal Democrat Government being elected in Scotland he would declare a Nature Emergency.

Poverty and inequality across Scotland remain stubbornly persistent and have been heightened by the Covid-19 pandemic.

We need strong action to tackle the deep rooted causes of this problem. These often emerge early in life and one of the starkest examples is the widening attainment gap between the richest and poorest pupils in our schools. At the current rate of progress it will take 35 years to close this gap. That isn't good enough.

Scottish Liberal Democrat equalities spokesperson Caron Lindsay has today called on the Scottish Government to do more to encourage victims of stalking and harassment to come forward as new figures revealed that almost one in eight adults had experienced at least one type of stalking and harassment.

The Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats has called the First Minister's Covid Statement opaque after she failed to include any indicators and data as she promised previously.

Willie Rennie said:

"For the last few weeks the First Minister told the country it was all about data not dates but this statement had quite a few dates but no data.