With 2020 vision the future looks good
Wow, what a year it’s been – and for all the wrong reasons. As I write this, the news comes that our new, more transmissible, strain of coronavirus has 23 mutations in its genetic code.
British Covid-19 has essentially made us pariahs, so we’re banned from travelling to most countries in the world.
It’s difficult to find the right words to sum up the state we find ourselves in.
Who is to blame? It’s easy to point at Boris Johnson – and, personally, I’d happily aim my middle finger in his direction.
He and his cronies have shambolically mishandled the attempt to free our once great nation of this dreadful disease.
They have had us all doing what has effectively been a nonsensical hokey cokey of lockdown rules.
But in truth, so many people in power are at fault – from Wuhan in China, where the virus was reported to have originated late last year, to world leaders everywhere who didn’t take it seriously enough to warn us how deadly and destructive it would be.
The terrible consequences of Covid could so easily have been avoided had we had someone in charge like New Zealand’s PM Jacinda Ardern, who has saved her own country from disaster.
From small businesses to high street chains, many of which have been forced to close, few have escaped unscathed.
If the year 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that the world can come crashing down around us at any time.
As social media sites encouraged us to make our lives appear glamorous and desirable, we posted pictures of everything from the places we visited to the dinners we cooked – in an attempt to show how we were having it all.
But one global pandemic has pressed a giant re-set button on what became the modern-day version of that 80s’ classic phrase, “Greed is good”.
So many of us have lost what we were hanging on to – an illusion that if we made it look perfect, it would be perfect.
Now though, legions of us are unemployed and unable to see the ones we love. Others are mourning those they lost – and couldn’t even be with in their final moments.
It’s hard to find hope, but I am certain that things will get better.
If there is one thing we British are known for, it’s our resilience. We’ve fought and won wars before, and that’s what this is.
Cool Britannia will rise again and, as the late great Dame Vera Lynn once sang, “We’ll meet again”. And when we do, all the hugs and kisses we’ve been banned from this year will be more special than ever.
I’d like to think we’ll emerge stronger and more grateful for what we’ve got.
So, as this terrible year comes to an end, let’s set our sights on a wonderful 2021.
Here’s to better times and more gratitude for the simple pleasures we once lost sight of.
Let’s raise a glass to freedom – and pray that it is nearly upon us.
We’ll emerge a lot stronger and more grateful
Despite being one of the most in-demand presenters on telly, we rarely get a chance to learn much about Tess Daly because she guards her private life so closely.
What we do get to see though is just how amazing she continues to look.
As the years tick by, Tess, 51, shows zero sign of ageing.
And when the Strictly co-host walked on stage for the final in that gorgeous Suzanne Neville metallic dress, she looked as stunning as she did when she first arrived on our screens three decades ago. Please tell us your secret, Tess.