Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Scotland more united by pandemic, new study shows

Union Street, Aberdeen, has been altered to allow better physical distancing during lockdown using government funding
Union Street, Aberdeen, has been altered to allow better physical distancing during lockdown

Scotland’s communities are more united than ever following the covid-19 pandemic, a new study has found.

Scottish ministers have imposed numerous restrictions over the course of the last 12 months to help mitigate the spread of the virus.

A new Our Chance to Reconnect study, commissioned by Talk/together, spoke to nearly 160,000 recipients from across the UK found the transformation within Scotland’s communities could drive a step-change in social connection once the country recovers.

Researchers uncovered that 51% of Scottish residents agreed overall that the crisis had brought society together.

Four times as many people in Scotland, around 45% of recipients, also said Covid made their local community more united compared to the 11% who said it was more divided.

Meanwhile, 53% of Scots agreed their local area is a place where people from different backgrounds get on well together, compared to 48% of the UK.

Report co-author Jill Rutter from the Talk/together coalition said: “We heard from thousands of people across Scotland, from March 2020 through to January this year, who shared their fears, frustrations and hopes for the future.

“Despite everything we’ve been through, there is a sense that communities have stayed strong and pulled together – and that new connections have been made.”

Research by ICM also indicated that 51% of people in Scotland agreed that the public’s response to the crisis has shown the unity of society, compared with 24% who disagree.

However, 86% of scots and 83% of UK responders urged politicians from different parties to put their differences aside and ‘work together to solve this country’s problems.

The study involved an online survey with almost 80,000 responses, five national polls with a total sample of more than 10,000 people and online focus groups with almost 500 participants from every nation and region.