Howling at the ‘ moonshots’

BE AFRAID, be very afraid’ was the message this week as new Covid19 restrictions were sprinkled like fairy dust across the four nations of the United Kingdom.

The brothers grim – Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief medical advisor and chief scientific advisor respectfully – appeared on the box as a double act to spread doom and gloom.

The two members of new coronavirus wave band the Horsemen of the Apocalypse ramped up the fear factor as figures show transmission of coronavirus are rising exponentially.

While on one hand, they explained the UK was following in the wake of Spain and France into another round of contagion, Sir Patrick also turned the occasion into a script worthy of a Hammer Horror film production of old.

It was not a prediction, he said, but a model and warned, without determined action, there could be 50,000 new cases a day by midOctober, which could lead to 200 deaths per day by midNovember. Not the experience on the Continent as yet.

The pair, who broadcast from No10, did not face questions over the maths. They are at odds with other scientific experts in the field of pandemics and contagion. One moot point is why focus on the picture in Spain and France where there has been a surge in infection; why not look at Germany or Italy, or even Sweden – the Scandinavian country now a favourite of Commons backbenches as a model of superior crisis handling.

The following morning, newspapers were full of a new rule of six. That’s the six months new restrictions could be heaped upon the longsuffering families of Great Britain… at least the turkeys will be optimistic about Christmas.

And there were some extra figures too, apparently printed to put the 200 deaths a day model into perspective. A bad winter brings the UK around 430 fatalities each 24 hours from a double whammy of flu and pneumonia; some 450 people lose their lives to cancer each day; 230 dementia sufferers will pass away; and heart disease will cause another 174 daily deaths.

The two advisers were the opening act for a television address to the nation by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Seated behind a plain desk and flanked by the bold colours of the Union Jack, he said it was time for people to pull together again.

There were no promised silver bullets to bring down the Covid werewolf, none of the magic ‘ moonshots’ of the last six months – and certainly no chestthumping rhetoric about ‘ world class’ test and trace programmes, while the worldleading ‘ app’ once trumpeted far and wide was also wisely left out of the script.

Instead, it was another call to arms; another appeal for people to act responsibly, abide by the new rules and warning failure could mean even stricter disciplinary action.

Even if he was ‘ spiritually reluctant’ to squeeze people’s freedoms, new ‘ diktats’ from the Cabinet have incensed members of the Tory party. Backbench rumblings about authoritarianism and ‘ the British people not being treated like children’. Expect more trouble at mill.

Rishy to get dishy again

The new Covid clampdown helped to spare the blushes within Cabinet ranks as tyre marks were left all over the Tarmac with another Uturn. After months of urging people to go back to the office and chucking millions into advertising campaigns; the message is now to work from home ‘ if you can’.

Michael Gove announced the change but denied it was an ‘ about turn’ and insisted it was a response to the spread of the virus – a blow to the economy and the hospital industry in particular along with the new 22.00 closing time for pubs and restaurants. Just spare a thought for hardpressed commuters who have shelled out for season tickets in response the government call to the office.

However, Chancellor Rishi Sunak is burning the candle at both ends at No11 Downing Street in a bid to find an affordable way of helping out and replace the furlough scheme, which has cost an eyewatering £ 39.3 billion so far, and is due to end next month.

The moneyman has enjoyed a good Covid war to date; he will dine out for years on the story of how he invented the highly digestible ‘ eat out to help out scheme’.

The new challenge comes as warnings grow of a ‘ tsunami of job losses’ as businesses struggle with the ongoing effect of the pandemic, new restrictions, and a recession to boot. Even the bank of England is calling for a ‘ stop and rethink’.

Mr Sunak is understood to have his thinking cap on, and a solution may be to reduce workers’ hours while keeping them in a job and the government subsidising wage packets. Germany and France both use similar schemes and are prepared to extend them by a year.

The topup scheme would be more affordable and sustainable, and advocates believe it would help a surge in unemployment come November.

Unhappy snaps

Scourge of the modern age and going through a massive lockdown spike is the phenomenon of socalled revenge porn with complaints to a governmentsponsored helpline up 22%.

In short, mobile phone cameras are used to take intimate photos or videos as very private mementos between consenting adults. Problem is when relationships end in tears and one partner decides to very publicly shame the other or threaten to do so.

It’s not the sort of thing that happened when people used to take films to Boots or Snappy

Snaps for developing but according to domestic violence charity Refuge, one in seven young women has received a threat such pictures will be shared without their consent.

It is a crime and is treated as domestic abuse. Lockdown caused higher numbers as people got up close via the internet rather than in person. Experts warn disclosing private sexual images or threatening to do so was a common form of abuse, particularly harming young women – the practice described as ‘ predatory sexual exploitation’.

Selfish selfies

And finally, the fact that these days everyone has a camera is causing havoc amongst the seal population of the UK as people try to get pictures of mums and their pups along the coast.

The Marine Conservation Society reports having to rescue babies – seals are apparently very vulnerable to disturbance and as well as upsetting the wild but cute animals, the stress can cause the pup being abandoned.

The society appealed for people to give the seals space and to stop the modern addiction to selfies with everything. In a staycation summer, the seals are also being disturbed by dogs off the lead, drones and the new trend of coastal exploration.