Arbitrary lockdown rules must end
TESTABLISHED 1855 he £1.5 billion bailout for the arts may insulate the sector from the worst ravages of the pandemic shutdown. However, since the money will be aimed at institutions rather than performers, the situation of individuals is unlikely to be ameliorated. Theatres, concert halls and opera houses may be prevented from going bust; but the actors, orchestras and singers will have a precarious existence for as long as doors remain closed to audiences.
The suggestion from Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, that theatres could stay dark until next year is as preposterous as it is depressing. There was no mass closure order during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918/19 or during the world wars. When the government tried to close them in 1939, George Bernard Shaw called it a “masterstroke of the most unimaginative stupidity” and the ban was swiftly lifted. Only the Puritans and the Great Plague of 1665 (and then only in London) closed theatres for longer than they face now.
The arbitrary nature of the lockdown rules is perplexing. Cinemas are open and air travel is allowed, both of which involve people sitting close to each other for long periods of time. Why not theatres? Why, also, do beauty salons and spas remain closed when hairdressers are open? The former have been put in the same category as casinos and strip clubs. There is a sense among practitioners that the Government sees nail bars and pedicures as somehow superfluous and superficial. Yet the beauty industry is worth an estimated £30 billion to the economy, employs many thousands of people and is just as important to millions of women as the return of Premier League football apparently is for many men.
The Telegraph’s #Whycan’tiwork social media campaign has exposed the anger among beauticians. They feel particularly aggrieved because so many already practised what is now seen as “safe” working long before Covid turned up. Many invested in more protective equipment to prepare for an opening that never happened.
The beauty industry feels it is being patronised by a male-dominated policy-making process, overlooked because it is run predominantly by women for women. The question Why Can’t I Work is a good one. The Government should answer it or come up with a better explanation for keeping the sector closed while other less “safe” enterprises reopen their doors.