Easing up has belly-flopped
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HAVING been locked down as tight as a maiden aunt’s corset, getting back to “normal” was bound to throw up surprises.
But how have we managed to get to a place where, in England in six days’ time, we’ll be able to go to the pub after a game of bingo, but not visit the gym?
We will be able get our hair cut, but not get a manicure. And our children can go to the cinema, but not to school – unless they are in certain age groups.
We will also be allowed to play tennis, but not cricket.
In fairness, the Government was never going to get it 100% right and has still faced criticism for going too far in unlocking.
Critics say easing any of the measures is too risky and we should wait until a vaccine is discovered.
Seeing as this is unlikely to be achieved before the end of the year, we might as well put up a “Closed” sign on the nation’s front door.
Remember, we are £300billion in the hole thanks to Covid-19. That’s almost as much as it would take to run the NHS for two years.
But the most puzzling decision has to be not to allow indoor gyms or pools to open on “independence day” next Saturday. Everyone accepts that we are in an obesity crisis.
Research has revealed the average amount of weight we’ve put on during lockdown is between 4lbs and 7lbs.
Yet, while we have opened the burger bars and you can often get a pizza more swiftly than an ambulance, we are set to open the pubs but not the gyms.
The UK has more than 7,000 gyms and leisure centres.
They employ 190,000 people and fitness is an £8bn-a-year industry, but they stay shut. The case for re-opening swimming pools is also compelling, not least because it is widely thought that chlorine kills the virus.
Surely Jane Nickerson, chief executive of Swim England, is right when she says: “Prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s safer to go into a pub than a pool and I’ll shut up.”
The answer regarding the re-opening of everything from gyms to schools – and even enjoying a game of cricket on the village green – is to treat us like adults and allow us to employ our own common sense.
And let’s hit the doubters for six.
IF you had the misfortune to tune in to the BBC much last week, you would have been excused for thinking some terrible tragedy had befallen the nation.
The reason for their over-arching glumness? This weekend’s Glastonbury festival was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic
It might not have been pencilled in on your calendar, but when you remember that a few years ago the BBC sent more than 400 staff to the event – while on another occasion they sent more to Glasto than they did to the World Cup – you realise what might be behind the pervading sense of doom and gloom.