It’s smiles better out in the sun
JSO, IT’S nearly teatime on a hot, gorgeous afternoon. You’ve spent the day in the garden, revelling in the sun and splendid spring blossom, persuading yourself that lockdown isn’t so bad after all. Thanking God for the weather, you’ve done a good job of convincing yourself that soon you’ll be hugging your grandchildren again.After all, the Covid-19 infection rate right across the UK is falling fast, many NHS trusts have had no deaths in the last week, and in London, originally the UK epicentre, the infection rate is now zero.
Tra-la! Summer is coming, and who cares if we can’t go abroad? Britain’s in bloom and we’re all raring to go with our windbreaks.
And then you check your watch and see that it’s 4.30pm. The daily Downing Street coronavirus press conference is about to begin, immediately followed by the BBC Six O’Clock News and ITV’s early-evening offering. Dutifully, and it’s a habit by now, you trudge in to the living room and switch on the TV. And BOOM! It’s pass the Prozac. Because all that sunshineinduced optimism, all those tiny flickering flames of hope, are shot down as soon as you see the newsreader’s face of doom. Infections and deaths down? You won’t see that as the lead item on the BBC news.
Far more likely as the opening story is a hyper-critical attack on the Government’s vital track-andtrace initiative, featuring some peevish anonymous bod in training, saying the whole initiative’s a chaotic mess, a total waste of time.
Of course they won’t interview someone who’s had a more positive experience of the training. Why spoil a good story by introducing some balance?
Next on your screen will be a snarling teachers union boss, followed by a tearjerking obituary of a very very old person, his nearest and dearest saying he was “taken before his time”.And those positive bits of news, such as the massive drop in deaths and infections? If they’re mentioned at all, the words will be swallowed resentfully by the newsreader.
So, the next time you’re sitting in your garden at 4.30pm on a sunny afternoon, feeling glad to be alive, here’s an idea: stay put. Don’t let the TV news destroy every precious ray of hope. You’re allowed to smile.