A spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down

THE day is coming when we will be let out of clink; we will have served our stretch, done our porridge - a sacrifice for the common good and in the most part a burden carried out with good and occasionally gallows humour.

Weeks into house arrest and plenty of stick for millions of people but precious little carrot as the war against the deadly Covid-19 relentlessly marches on.

Populations across the world appreciate the heroism of frontline health staff and the sacrifice of other essential workers. Never has so much been owed to so few (to steal an apt and well-known wartime phrase from the top man in Parliament in1940); but there comes a time when parts of the regime rankle, when the good natured cooperation of the masses should not simply be taken for granted.

There is only so long people can bleat the ongoing UK mantra: “Stay home, protect the NHS, save lives” without question - it starts to have strange echoes of the Animal Farm slogan ‘Four legs good, two legs bad’. We all know how that one ended up.

It is time to let us know the plan, the end game, to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Not in detail and certainly the timetable will change according to the whims of the bug and its capacity to take a scythe through the population.

Labour new leader Sir Keir Starmer has raised precisely the point - good to hear a sensible query from the opposition - not about the timing but the strategy. He believes the government must have the trust of the public at a time lockdown was to inevitably continue. It is a thought being echoed across the continent and certainly here in Spain where the jailhouse rules have been even more stringent.

He believes the public “has played its part” and made sacrifices but the pressure on communities and society in general was beginning to show. “People need a sense of what comes next.”

LIGHT

The call is for a little transparency, a little light in the dark. To know what is going on in the corridors of power. Are we kept in suspense because governments fear mass civil unrest?

On the whole the confinement has been accepted. We want to help. We really do. The people continually breaking the emergency rules en masse are idiots - recently correctly summed up as “morons” as they sunbathe, barbeque, or drive for hours to a beauty spot to exercise.

However, the clampdown by some of our guards at the gulag has sometimes been heavy handed. Well intentioned perhaps, but certainly not cricket.

Exercise has not been granted by the powers in Madrid or Valencia from the start, it could yet prove to be an extra sentence on public health.

Soon dog walkers were being quizzed about the ownership of a pooch - suddenly a valuable commodity - and it was seen as either an excuse to get outdoors or a cunning plan for non-pet owners to escape for a jolly. Genuine dog lovers are out in the middle of the night and pouring rain; the canine species are after all animals not machines.

Some police officers have extended their role to judge and jury too, thankfully they are very much a minority. Fines have been handed out for not having enough shopping, going too far to a supermarket, just popping in for a pint of milk (cereal not good without it when supply runs out) - everyone is entitled to buy a newspaper, though not many people buy hundreds at a time.

Councils and some check out assistants have already been quick to judge it seems. Is an Easter egg or chocolate essential; are a couple of bottles of wine? Actually yes, just ask Boris, he said off licences could open to meet demand while chocolate is a proven lifter of spirits and in egg form a tradition - especially as we were all being good over Easter and didn’t meltdown.

NORMAL

Honestly, it is just an attempt to be as normal as possible. The odd glass does no one any harm, cooking and trying new dishes is an enjoyable way to fill up some time and win favour with cellmates. No one wants to only eat porridge while doing porridge.

And there is a new class of busybody who seems to take delight in someone else’s business.

Bumping into an acquaintance in the supermarket is a good thing; swapping a few lockdown tales is good, a health check on friends. It is okay...as long as social distancing is observed.

There is a tale on the BBC about shaming. Two friends met by chance on an Edinburgh street and passed the time of day while keeping a large gap between them. Apparently a woman fished a tape measure out of her bag to check the space was a regulation two metres.

Other family - sorry, household - units have received abuse out on their hour of exercise because an excited youngster ran ahead screaming with delight; while a couple hand in hand were shamed by a stranger too quick to judge. Films by curtain twitchers are all over social media, yet the ‘sin’ committed is only wrong in their eyes and within the spirit of the emergency rules.

Yet one of the Easter weekend treats was watching a street party ‘somewhere in England’. Everyone turned out and had a picnic or BBQ in front of their house, played music and had a good time. The police just smiled in the sunshine - the revellers all kept their distance. A good judgement.