AS a rule I find it best not to eat while watching the Scottish news bulletins. With all the spluttering that goes on it is safer, and requires less cleaning afterwards, to go nil by mouth. Take this week, for example.

On Sunday, World Health Organisation data showed Scotland had become the Covid capital of Europe, with six regions featuring in the top ten for case rates. Add to this a test and trace system that was buckling under the pressure. Wonder what the Scottish Government will say to that, I pondered.

Well ponder on, because there was no Minister available to come on the programme, viewers were told. Kate Forbes, the Finance Secretary, did pop up on BBC Radio Scotland to say everything was going well with the vaccination drive when it clearly was not.

By Tuesday night there was still no sign of the Health Secretary, Humza Yousaf, nor the Deputy First Minister, John Swinney. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who usually clocks up more telly appearances than the average weather forecaster, was missing too. What was going on?

Before you could print a batch of “Have you seen this Minister?” posters to paste around the neighbourhood, The Sun helpfully solved the mystery of the missing Health Secretary. He was just outside London in Harry Potter world, aka the Warner Bros Studio Tour. Where else would you be in the middle of the greatest public health crisis in memory?

READ MORE: NHS Highland issues Delta variant warning

Now, everyone needs a break, but finding out how the Harry Potter movies were made instead of investigating the causes of the Covid surge and the vaccination slowdown? Really, Minister?

Mr Yousaf’s explanation, when it arrived, consisted of saying he had barely had a break all year, he was not going to apologise for spending time with his family, and, anyway, a Tory MSP was at Harry Potter World too.

If only there was a customer complaints line one could call. John Major, mocked as he was for his cones hotline suggestion, might have been on to a winner after all. Having some way of registering your dissatisfaction with a service will always be better than having no way. The way life is going, a lot of us will be spending more time complaining than we have ever done. The reason? It’s Covid, innit.

“It’s Covid, innit” is the new “It’s Brexit, innit”, a catch-all excuse for poor service. It is everywhere and growing. The UK Institute of Customer Service yesterday published one of its satisfaction indexes. Complaints in general are at their highest level since 2009, and a quarter of those surveyed said Covid-19 had been given as the reason for below par service.

Transport, GP services and councils were among those at the top of the complaints league.

(FYI, the top three outfits were first direct, John Lewis, and Amazon UK. Scottish Water was in ninth place, alongside Greggs and Specsavers.)

Jo Causon, the Institute’s chief executive, said: “‘Because of Covid’ is not a good phrase. Organisations must not hide behind this blanket statement.”

They must not, but they are. What is more, they are taking their cue from the top. The UK Government and the Scottish Government could run masterclasses in the art of using Covid as an excuse. Operation cancelled? Covid. Cancer undetected? Covid. Children’s education suffered? Covid. More chance of playing strip poker with Elvis than seeing your GP? Covid. In the Scottish Government’s case, “It’s Covid, innit” has been added to “It’s Westminster” as a go-to reason for all that ails us.

It is undeniable that a global pandemic should have an impact, but if we too readily accept that nothing can be done about poor service we are opening the door to years more of it. In future, as now, it is the already disadvantaged who will suffer most.

READ MORE: Health Secretary defends Harry Potter trip

People are understandably reluctant to complain. In part it is because we know things are rotten at the moment for so many, and could be worse. It is wrong that the supermarket worker or bus driver should bear the brunt when decisions are made higher up the ladder. All those signs in shops warning that abuse of staff will not be tolerated are there for a reason. The pandemic has not been civility’s finest hour.

Remember the days, most of them at the start of the pandemic, when we hoped this experience would make us a kinder, more equitable society? That did not last long. If anything, Covid has heightened inequality and entrenched privilege. Money is being used to take the sharper edges off. How many people do you know who, faced with a long wait for an operation or other treatment, have opted to go private? The private health insurance industry has been quick to capitalise on the backlogs. “Skip NHS waiting lists” say the adverts, “Don’t rely on the NHS”, “Get quicker treatment when you need it most”.

As demand for private medical insurance increases, so too do the costs (up 7% in the UK this year according to one survey). Mental health services will be among the services most requested. A boom time for therapists. Bookings for private tutors are up, house prices are soaring as people cash in and move out of the cities. Wherever you turn there is a Covid effect or a Covid cash-in (£5 for “extra hygiene measures” at the hairdressers anyone?).

It was ever thus, you might argue. The well off and the sharp elbowed will always find a way to wangle an advantage, either by paying or complaining till they find satisfaction. Anyway, going private relieves the pressure on the NHS, and isn’t that a good thing? Except every surgeon working privately is one not working for the NHS.

We have long been a two-tier society, with public services providing a minimum standard of care for all, and the private sector acting as a cherry on top for those who can afford it. But this pandemic risks taking us back to a time before the NHS and other public services, when you had to pay for what you needed or do without.

Amid talk of restrictions being lifted, the message that we are in this for the long haul is being drowned out. The excuses we are being given now will not hold the line forever. Government is about making choices. Deciding where to spend money. Staying at your desk if you are the Health Secretary, infections are going through the roof, and you have only been in the job five minutes. If you get it wrong, Minister, please don’t complain.