Blame game starts as travel corridor to France is shut
WHO is to blame? It is a question we often ask ourselves when things go wrong. And in an age when politicians have generally sought to exaggerate their own omnipotence it is unsurprising that they have made themselves such a tempting target whenever misfortune strikes.
For the hundreds of thousands of Britons on holiday in France – and the hundreds of thousands more who were on holiday in Spain a couple of weeks ago – the Government is an obvious focus for ire after changing Covid quarantine rules at very short notice.
Once again, people who thought they would be protected by a “travel corridor” are seeing that arrangement scrapped and will have to selfisolate for two weeks on their return, meaning many will not be able to return to work or go to landmark family events.
And yet there is no getting away from the fact that the destinations to which travel corridors were created – essentially a list of safe countries with low Covid rates – were always subject to change. Going abroad at a time of a global pandemic was always going to be risky.
AS happened with Spain at the start of the month, so there has been an undeniable upsurge in Covid cases in France – with 2,700 new ones reported on Thursday alone and Paris declared a “red zone” by the French authorities.
The Government was always clear that the quarantine exemptions list was likely to be modified as new information came in. Common sense and a moment’s reflection would have underlined the point to anyone pondering holiday destinations.
As Boris Johnson reiterated this week: “Everybody understands that in a pandemic you don’t allow our population to be re-infected or the disease to come back in.”
Being towards the risk averse end of the spectrum when it comes to travel, I decided that booking a foreign holiday anywhere would not be a good move this year and am looking forward to a couple of trips to British seaside towns soon.
But does that mean I have just cause to scoff at those unfortunate people unable to get back from France in time to beat the quarantine, or indeed at their counterparts who went to the Netherlands or Malta or Monaco, which are also losing their corridors this weekend?
Well, I might make an exception for the Monaco brigade (envy is a terrible thing), but in general no. It is perfectly understandable that people should want to take their families off to sunny climes in August. Those with school age children in particular are hard-pushed to find another time to get away and pay through the nose to holiday in peak season. And don’t forget they have also been subjected to years of nanny state warnings about the terrible damage they will do to the education of their children if they take them out of school for a vacation for even a few days in term time.
After being cooped up at home with their children for almost five months after schools were closed by edict of the same nanny state, one would not blame those parents for taking such warnings much less seriously in future.
And one should not blame them for wanting to get away from it all either. They might have got lucky, like those relatives of mine whose longplanned holiday in Spain began the day after a travel corridor was given the green light and who got back the weekend before it was scrapped. But they didn’t get lucky and there is no point complaining now or blaming ministers or the “faceless bureaucrats” who advise them – other than to let off steam.
I assume that is what the woman in the south of France identified only as Katie by the BBC news website was doing when she complained: “We have done everything the Government has asked of us for months but I really think they need to treat us all with a little respect and give us time to organise ourselves.”
As we have learnt to our cost, coronavirus does not wait for us to organise ourselves.
SPEED of response is of the essence. We are in the realms here of personal responsibility, from which no government can entirely insulate us and none should try. How to respond to the new restrictions is also down to the individual. Some have attempted an early dash home to beat quarantine, while others have resolved simply to enjoy their time away and face the music upon their return.
I must say I would be inclined towards the latter path. Kiplingesque sang froid is the order of the day on the French Riviera; to meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same.
‘Coronavirus does not wait for us. Speedy response is of the essence’