THE POSITIVE PROFESSOR
PROFESSOR KAROL SIKORA
CMO of Rutherford Cancer Centres and Former Director of WHO Cancer Programme
SOCIAL media’s voice of calm Karol Sikora has been signed up by the Daily Express. Readers can now enjoy his soothing advice in these troubled times that has won him hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter. If you need reassuring everything’s going to be all right read Professor Positivity.
FOR all the debates on the rights and wrongs of the tier system, I am just grateful for now to be out of a full national lockdown. It feels like we’ve jumped out of the fire and back into the frying pan. A precarious situation, but far better than where we were yesterday.
There are far fewer areas in Tier 1 than we would like. Boris Johnson gave hope to a lot of people that there is a realistic chance to move down the tiers at the time of the next review. It will be interesting to see if anyone actually does.
There is genuine anger and frustration out there at how the tiers have been decided, based on county lines. A feeling of unfairness is difficult to shake. Some towns have every right to be furious that they are in Tier 3.
So the move out of a full national lockdown is a relief but it’s a bittersweet one. We live in a Tier 2 area, like most of the country, so we are looking forward to a nice “substantial” meal at our favourite local Italian restaurant.
Many people aren’t so fortunate, through no fault of their own. Trying to balance the need for decisive action and aiming for fairness is not easy. Millions don’t understand why they are in the tier they are in, and that does not bode well for compliance with the rules.
All the way through this crisis I’ve been a huge believer in the powers of persuasion rather than threats. If people buy into the action taken, they will be far more likely to follow the rules. You don’t need to be a professor of behavioural science to understand that!