Rules are fine – as long as they make any sense
Iam not a rebellious person. It takes a lot to light the blue touchpaper of insubordination in my conformist soul. But if there is one thing which is guaranteed to ignite that flame it’s official idiocy. And so it was, after Priti Patel made her announcement about the 14-day quarantine for arrivals in the UK, that I bought a British Airways return ticket for July 23.
I couldn’t care less where
I go, but I will not stand by and see a Government I voted for trash what remains of our economy. At a time when most other countries are lifting their quarantines, tail-end Charlie Blighty is just getting around to imposing one, having let in tens of thousands of people from the world’s most-infected hot spots. Apparently, our quarantine is so urgent that the Home Secretary says it won’t begin until June 8. Oddly enough, that’s around the time a scientist friend assures me the coronavirus will have petered out and our battered hospitality and travel sectors can begin to recover.
Well, not if the Government has anything to do with it. British Airways has already made 12,000 of its 42,000 staff redundant. Willie Walsh says the quarantine means BA will have to review its plan to return to 50 per cent capacity in July. More job losses may follow.
Passengers like me, who are arriving back in the UK, will be required to fill in an online locator contact form, providing details of where we will spend our fortnight in isolation. We can be contacted at any time and may be subject to “spot checks”. Let’s hope that the Border Force is as good at monitoring your
columnist as they are at tracking down illegal immigrants.
Fatalities from coronavirus in the UK are now largely confined to hospitals and care homes. The chances of being infected in the community are very small, but the Government is insisting on measures which make no sense.
Take the 2m distance rule. Sage thought Brits were too stupid to observe any shorter social distancing, so gave us the longest length in the world – an absolute killer for restaurants, pubs and small shops. The 1m recommended by the World Health Organisation would at least give those businesses a fighting chance.
As for schools, it’s a fiasco wrapped in a tragedy. Heads are expected to enforce “impossible” social distancing, while staff are wear PPE “for any physical contact” with children. These measures will inflict emotional harm, all to protect them from a virus that poses virtually no risk to their age group.
Truly, Jonathan Swift should be living at this hour to do full justice to the epic folly of our beloved country, which has lost its senses over coronaphobia. It’s almost beyond satire.