Well, it’s the Christmas that keeps giving. A mutation, a u-turn, a novelty hero and an extra tier as a special surprise.
It’s a shame Boris didn’t get a bottle for Christmas. We all knew what was going to happen because we’ve got brains. We knew on Wednesday when the prime minister reassured us about a jolly Christmas, albeit a little one, that there would be a surprise in store. All the signs were there. The lockdown produced a temporary lull, a respite, but as soon as it was eased the numbers started going up – cases, hospitalisations and deaths. It’s a shame he didn’t have the bottle to tell everyone Christmas should only be one day, and discourage us from planning for a longer break. Instead, he said such a move would be ‘inhuman’.
But, in fairness, Boris’ inadequacy as a leader is matched by all the other England-based parties. Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales managed to decipher the writing on the wall and trod their own paths. France, Germany, Italy and many other European nations had already beefed up their Covid precautions. Sadly, we have no personalities big enough to impose their will on the nation and drag it along behind them. Worse still, we have a significant proportion of the populace firm believers that all these rules don’t apply to them.
Those old or weird enough to remember watching ‘Spinal Tap’, a 1984 spoof film about a rock band on tour, will inevitably recall the scene where guitarist Nigel Tufnel proudly demonstrates his amplifiers with a volume control going up to eleven rather than universal ten. It is shameful that no one in ‘control’ of our pandemic response considered that Tier 3 might not be adequate and we might have to turn it up a notch.
Ironically, the public, or some of them, have chosen their own yuletide leader. Top seller in Christmas novelty gifts is a mug featuring… Dr Chris Witty bearing a variety of slogans like ‘Next slide please’ and ‘Stay home, save lives’.
And, is the vaccine the answer? Not until we’ve all been jabbed. When us wrinklies have had the vaccine we should be safe, but no one has yet said we can’t transmit the virus. So, although I may be safe in January, people I come into contact with may be at risk. The current plan is to have all adults vaccinated by April. If we demonstrate the same delivery expertise as we have in testing and ‘track and trace’, for April read August.
US president Thomas Jefferson was quite right when he said, “The government you elect is the government you deserve.”