It was easier to get into Italy than the library

Reading the papers in the spring, it often felt like watching a horror movie. But then you’d step outside, and the birds would be singing and parks would be merry with people exercising together.

Throughout the pandemic, there has been a disconnect between draconian decrees and reality. And things which ought to have been hard to do – like have mass picnics and mini-raves on Hampstead Heath – were being done regularly with apparent ease, while things that should be easy to do, like sit be-masked at a socially distanced desk at the British Library, are nigh on impossible.

The strange gulf between rules and reality, not helped by the sheer number of rules, has resulted in some fresh absurdities. Last week, sharp intakes of breath and panic all round met Italy’s latest “decree” that all passengers from the UK would have to present a negative Covid test on arrival, or have someone shove a swab at them when they landed. Yet when I arrived at Catania airport in Sicily following the order, a form (the fourth – we had to fill in three on the plane) was proffered, and that was it. Off we went.

And yet, when I tried to organise a research trip to the Wellcome Library in London, it was impossible: the library apparently only has capacity to accept existing members, and is also unable to process new applications. As my membership is expired, I am out of luck.

We are in a strange moment in which it’s easier to get into Europe’s strictest, most Covid-secure country – armed with a decree expressly and rightly treating us as infected until proven clean – than it is to consult a few medical archives in a dusty London library.