Crackers quarantine conundrum
RHEAR that banging noise and the fading clip-clopping of hooves? It’s the sound of the stable door being slammed shut after the horse has gone. Oh, and how about that repetitive clicking sound? You’re listening to the rattle of seatbelts being fastened in the wreckage of a nasty crash.
Put another way: do you understand why Britain is belatedly imposing travel quarantine next month? I don’t. I haven’t heard a single solitary credible reason for it, just infuriatingly vague waffle from useless government apparatchiks at the daily news briefings (surely a contradiction in terms to describe 30 minutes of turgid, repetitive sloganizing and shameless obfuscation).
But try as I might I cannot – CANNOT – see the point of shoving everyone arriving in the UK (including returning British travellers) into forced isolation for two weeks.That would have made sense at the start of the pandemic, when countries such as Spain, Italy and France were reporting terrifying daily spikes in cases. Instead, we allowed tens of thousands in from countries awash with the coronavirus.
But now? When, in many countries, the infection rate is falling steeply or has pretty much evaporated? I just don’t get it. Nor do airlines such as easyJet, who announced 30 per cent staff cuts on Thursday. British Airways and Virgin
JA BITCHY article about William and Kate in Tatler, not only commenting nastily on Kate’s relationship with the Duchess of Sussex but also having a go at Kate’s mother, Carole Middleton, calling her a “Hyacinth Bucket [with] aspirations to grandeur” has upset the Cambridges.
The mag also says Kate’s furious at her increased workload since Meghan and Harry ran away to LA.
The Cambridges (right) shouldn’t worry. Everyone’s loved them in lockdown, with their cheery Zoom bingo calling and their charming children sweetly clapping for carers. The Sussexes are almost forgotten, but Will and Kate have had a good war. have already axed thousands of jobs and all the airlines are unified in their bafflement over the UK’s Johnny-come-lately quarantine, imposed just as others are preparing to relax theirs. (Ours won’t kick in until June 8.That’s how urgent it is).
We went into this crisis almost three months ago with a clear sense of purpose and cohesion.Today, we have confusion, drift, and a steady, relentless retreat from logic.
It’s not just the crackers quarantine conundrum which no one can explain.There are plenty of other potty protocols.Why are we still insisting on a two-metre distance rule? It’s twice what most other countries recommend, twice what theWorld Health Organization say is required, and a killer-blow to bars, pubs, restaurants and small shops.They could just about cope with a one-metre rule.Two metres will finish many off.Where was the logic in restrictions on family meetings? Until now one member could meet one relative but only outside in a public place, not in their own garden. It was beyond baffling, and of course, many law-abiding folk made their own sensible risk-assessments and quietly ignored it. Boris’s relaxation of the rules on Thursday was an attempt to get back ahead of that reality.
Why aren’t we even discussing a relaxing of lockdown on a region-by-region basis? The capital is virtually virus-free now. London generates a huge slice of UK wealth. Why can’t the City get back to work?
Don’t expect answers soon. Duck, dodge, and deflect are the default position at those daily conferences.
Say what you like about Dominic Cummings; at least he had the guts to face a string of hostile questions and attempt to answer them.