Sir Alex Ferguson’s reputation as one of the toughest managers in football is legendary.
He had an invincible quality that infected his players and turned them into world-beating stars.
It will be appreciated by many therefore to hear such a towering figure talk candidly about suffering a brain haemorrhage.
The former Manchester United boss, famous for giving his players “the hairdryer treatment” after a poor performance has got a different perspective on life.
Left unable to talk for 10 days after a life-saving operation, he feared his health would never return.
The 79-year-old admits: “I was crying. I felt helpless. I would have hated to have lost my memory. That would have been a terrible burden on my family.”
Good health is something that everyone takes for granted until you don’t have it.
And that can happen to anyone no matter how rich or famous or seemingly indestructible.
By speaking out, Sir Alex shows that for everyone the experience of falling seriously ill will be frightening and humbling.
But the important thing is to never give up and live the life you have with humility.
Clear as mud
A crucial foundation of any democracy is that governments are open and transparent.
Once you lose this, you can very quickly lose everything.
It is concerning, therefore, that the Scottish Government doesn’t appear to have been able to meet this standard with its own lawyers.
Roddy Dunlop QC was left furious after being made to compromise his professional reputation when key emails were not handed over as he fought Alex Salmond’s judicial review.
It appears the information was only uncovered after the intervention of the Lord Advocate James Wolffe to search files in the office of Permanent Secretary Leslie Evans.
When the necessary communications were finally uncovered, they blew a hole in the Government’s case.
But rather than abandon it, they ploughed on at huge cost to taxpayers.
If ministers can’t even be transparent to Scotland’s top lawyer as he attempts to defend them in court, what chance do we have.
Hollow boasts
Care home Covid-19 deaths appear to be falling fast and that is great news for everyone.
It should mean that families separated for a year can be safely reunited.
It is lamentable, however, that both Nicola Sturgeon and Jeane Freeman have been stating figures which fail to include the deaths of care home residents who died in hospital.
Almost 300 fatalities since September are not covered by the NRS statistics they have been using to boast about the success of the vaccination programme.
It is another example of care home residents being treated like second-class citizens and why the Sunday Mail will not give up its fight for Anne’s Law to protect their human rights.
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