| Good Morning, Welcome to another daily briefing from The Scotsman. Before we begin, thank you to those of you who have emailed saying you will try out a subscription with us. At £3 a month for the first two months, it's a very good deal and gives you access to hundreds of articles on Scotland a week. Your support helps us improve, keeps us sustainable and is always appreciated. Whether you subscribe or not this newsletter will remain free for all. If you have any feedback on this newsletter. Let me know, [email protected] Will Scotland follow Wales into 'firebreaker' lockdown? We covered in our breaking coronavirus bulletin yesterday that Wales had entered a 'firebreaker' lockdown. People in Wales have been ordered to stay at home, while pubs, restaurants, hotels and non-essential shops will shut down. Essentially, it's a shorter version of the comprehensive lockdown we endured in March. Now the prospect of similar measures coming to Scotland have been thrown into focus. Will Scotland follow the Welsh example into a 'firebreaker' lockdown? Our political editor Scott Macnab breaks down the issue and reviews the likelihood of this happening north of the border here. How the Vikings changed Skye forever The landscape of Skye ‘completely changed’ with the arrival of Vikings in the late 8th Century with Celtic culture and language wiped out as the Norsemen moved in, research has found. Norse speakers were arriving on the islands from around 795AD, mainly from western Norway, with the new arrivals bringing fundamental changes to island life. Our excellent heritage reporter Alison Campsie explores how the Vikings wiped out the language and culture on the famous Scottish isle. The areas of Scotland with lowest Covid rates New data shows breakdown of coronavirus rates according to area over a seven day period. The data released by the Scottish Government shows the number of positive covid-19 cases per 100,000 people, according to neighbourhood. Rural areas unsurprisingly have done well avoiding Covid cases, but there are some surprises. For example, Inverclyde, once dubbed 'Scotland's Covid Capital', makes the list after significant improvements. 'We’ll never fully revert to the way life was pre-Covid' Businesses’ survival undeniably depends on the ability to adapt – a lesson highly evident during the coronavirus pandemic. From, say, whisky firms switching to making hand sanitiser, to clothing firms debuting their range of face masks, and restaurants switching to takeaways, few of us can have escaped the fact that many firms have had to readjust their strategy – or find themselves among those forced to pull down the shutters for the last time. Business reporter Emma Newlands looks at these Scottish firms altering their offering to help go the distance. In the meantime, we can all play our part. Support local Scottish businesses. They need us. Stay safe, Sam Shedden | 