London’s calling to the faraway towns, and it’s bad news for all

THE whole of the UK is in lockdown, probably until March. Even places like NE Lincs, with one of the lowest infection rates in the country, finds itself under quarantine. What prompted this draconian, groundhog day step? The virus, new variant or old, was not rampant everywhere, definitely not here.

But it was in the London area, which is the new epicentre of the Covid crisis. Its infection rates are 10 times ours and its hospitals are at breaking point.

The reaction seems almost Pavlovian. If London suffers, the whole country must pay the price. Events there dominate the news agenda, influence policy.

The bulk of the 60,000-plus cases are in the south east, as are the lion’s share of the deaths. How did this happen? Remember, London was given preferential treatment in the late autumn when, due to political interference, it was placed in Tier 2 when many others areas, including ours, were in Tier 3.

As a result 10 million people were able to enjoy indoor leisure, go to restaurants and pubs serving meals, even attend soccer games in limited numbers.

Such a light touch encouraged them to drop their guard. It was a major mistake in policy as the new variant took hold. Now London’s calling to the faraway towns as the new variant spreads out from the capital, helped by the Christmas invitation to travel and mix, and we’re all paying the price. We know that schools were kept open in all tiers, but there’s such a concentration in Greater London, with hundreds of secondary schools allowing tens of thousand of teenagers to mix every day that, new variant or old, they were asking for trouble.

I just wonder if the decision to choose the nuclear option of national lockdown would have been made if the capital had had the same low infection rate as NE Lincs or East Lindsey, both in the top 10 of least affected districts.

If London was relatively clear of Covid and it was rampant here could you see a national lockdown being imposed?

Or would there have been a regional approach as happened when the North East and North West were badly hit.

Yes, cut off the North, down South we’re all right Jack.

And now, for us, there are still anomalies. A week ago our region was split between tiers 3 and 4 with bizarre restrictions preventing people from NE Lincs suburbs like Tetney and Holton-le-Clay from travelling into Grimsby and Cleethorpes, and vice versa.

Instead of shopping at Tesco, Asda, Morrisons or Sainburys they had to make a 30-mile round trip to Louth if they wanted to visit a supermarket.

Yet when the alert level rose even further to lockdown, lo and behold, such restrictions no longer applied. Go figure.

At least with the schools now closed, however painful that may be, we’ve cut out another of the principle modes of transmission.

It was the last throw of the dice for ministers who really didn’t want to do it, but with 60,000 infections they had no choice. Compare our prevarication to what just happened in the Chinse province of Hebei, population 74 million. On the back of just 51 cases, less then one in a million, they’ve immediately closed all schools. They don’t mess about.

Locally, we’re now seeing a slight rise In our low infection rate, which could be attributed to the Christmas Day free for all, which was another misjudgment as Boris Johnson played with fire.

Yet over the horizon comes the vaccine. Many of our over 80s have already had the jab and it’s now a race against time to immunise other vulnerable groups. Fingers crossed.

■ WE’RE largely quarantined, small businesses and hospitality are shut down, life for many boils down to walking the dog and watching the telly.

Yet one group is laughing all the way to the bank. Shareholders in our major stores and supermarkets.

The big retailers are raking in the profits as they enjoy a monopoly, taking advantage of the lack of competition from smaller, specialised shops.

So how about a windfall tax on their profits? It might go some way to easing the bill the country, all of us, will be saddled with when the cost of supporting the economy has to be paid.

■ ONCE again we have a situation where it’s OK to mix indoors in superstores yet healthy outdoor sport is banned.

Where is the logic? There is none. Tennis and golf are permitted in Scotland’s lockdown yet forbidden here. Angling can go ahead in England, so why not other socially distanced sports?

And surely outdoor soccer poses less of a risk than mass mixing in retail environments?

Maintaining physical and mental health is a priority for people of all ages, from tots to seniors, and exercise through outdoor sport in these terrible times should be encouraged, not outlawed.