A bit of a rant …

So, we’re here again. Sorry. Our house has enough love and goodwill to survive the lockdown. We did, after all, spend two weeks quarantined in a foreign hotel room with more chicken, rice and pickled vegetables than we could ever eat. If you’re the same then I think, like us, we should consider ourselves lucky. If, on the other hand, you’re struggling for whatever reason, then I’m genuinely sorry. I cannot imagine what it must be like for those of you who either need company or better company, or space, or a break from the children … or, whatever reason this will be a struggle. Sorry again.

before I start …

It didn’t have to be this way. I am absolutely convinced of it. And I cannot forgive our government for where they have taken us. We initially locked down at least two weeks late, when the good people of Italy’s Po Valley were screaming at us. Instead we allowed major racing and music events to go ahead. We came out of a successful lockdown at least two weeks early and without an effective track and trace system, even though you and I paid £12 billion for it – a system which is still not functioning properly almost 12 months later. Rather than pursue a zero-covid approach, when the numbers were really low in the summer, we were then strongly encouraged to eat out. And when the numbers rose again, we locked down in September … but again, at least two weeks late.

We were told by Boris Johnson this would be over by last Easter. And then the summer. And then Christmas, for which we were all given a pass to visit friends and family when the evidence suggested this would ramp up the virus. Schools in London were threatened with legal action in the last week of term when councils tried to close them due to rising cases. Christmas was then abruptly cancelled. And a new strain of the virus, likely caused by long incubation in one of very many patients, was identified. In early December experts were telling us a hard lockdown was needed sooner rather than later. And yet, unfathomably, hundreds of thousands of children were sent to school for a single, virus-sharing day this Monday, only for the schools to be shut that evening.

Throughout we have kept our borders open. You still do not need to to prove to be covid-free to enter our country when, across the world, almost every other nation has some form of system in place. And we were very late to the mask party. In the Spring the WHO were recommending wearing of masks in enclosed spaces. I can tell you that everyone (everyone) wears a mask in Korea – everywhere, including young kids kicking a football in the street. For some reason, even when the evidence was overwhelming, we were slow to act.

And we find ourselves where we are.

We are an island. We could have gone for a sharp, zero-covid approach, like New Zealand, closed our borders, set up an effective track and trace system and been ‘world-beating’. For those of you who argue that New Zealand is a big island with a small population, I hear you. But South Korea has pretty much the same land mass and the same population, and they manage it. For those of you who add that South Korea ‘do as they are told’, you are wrong. The Korean’s national Saturday pastime is to protest against their government. The population has thrown out numerous governments and jailed a couple of its leaders. What they have is a sense of civic duty – a caring for each other, which the British population also has in spades. It just needs to be harnessed.

I do blame the government. For me, leaving aside late lockdowns, no masks and no track and trace, the pivotal moment of the pandemic was when Dominic Cummings was allowed to get away with breaking lockdown rules with lies and without an apology – and with the support of the prime minister. No wonder since the summer people have lost confidence in the government’s messaging.

And I don’t blame the covid-deniers and anti-vaxxers, no matter how ridiculous they sound. Sure, those of them with huge followings are not helping but, again, the government could come out against them, even if they don’t shut them down. I’ve not heard a single cabinet minister dismiss people like Julia Hartley-Brewer, Toby Young and Lawrence Fox, among many others.

So, I am really sorry we are where were are. No one is saying that managing this is easy and, of course, people make mistakes. But the liturgy of poor and late decision making in my view has no excuse. And why? Why the late decisions? Some say it’s because Johnson is a libertarian and hates messing with people’s freedoms. Some say it’s because he only makes difficult decisions when he absolutely has to. For me, it’s always been about ‘owning the libs’. Johnson will not make decision which the more liberal minded have been calling for. He won’t. Unless he absolutely has to. Unfortunately, so far, the liberal-minded have been right about the pandemic. Unfortunately our government has put ideology above the needs of the people. And I will never forgive them for that.

That’s it. Rant over. We didn’t need to be where we are. We didn’t.