The grouse shooting exemption is a useful case study in how differently the Scottish electorate treats its two governments. UKgov has faced strong criticism in Scotland for exempting shoots from COVID restrictions, whereas Scotgov has faced almost no criticism for doing the same.

It has become standard for the (many and frequent) failings of the UK Government to receive robust and relentless criticism in Scotland, while the (often directly equivalent) failings of the Scottish Government receive practically no opprobrium at all, if they are even reported.

More significantly, should one try to be even-handed in one's criticism of both government one is routinely accused of "defending the Tories", a highly effective method for suppressing further criticism of the government which is responsible for most aspects of our daily lives.

For those suggesting that the real difference is in *how* the decision was made, I'd point out we have no idea how the decision was made by ScotGov because they routinely don't minute government meetings and they have restricted Freedom of Information rights during COVID.

But we do know the historical closeness between several SNP politicians and organisations like Scottish Land & Estates, which exist to lobby ministers over exactly this sort of issue. So it's entirely possible the decision making was just as murky up here - we just aren't told.

And this dovetails with another perception difference which is constantly deployed to Scotgov's advantage - any press report, however unevidenced, which casts UKgov in a bad light is taken as gospel here, whereas unevidenced reports of Scotgov behaviour are immediately dismissed.