Do your bit to make lockdown-lite work for us all

IS it lockdown, or locks-down? The floppy mop was combed into place when Boris Johnson announced the new regime.

He did his best to look serious, doing what he should have done a month ago.

It was a characteristic U-turn: late, badly-executed and inadequate. We now have lockdown-lite. Schools are open despite teachers’ fears, but pubs are shut. No marriages, but football continues. And unlimited personal exercise.

What’s more, it’s only for four weeks, not 12 like the original sentence back in March. So, reasons to celebrate? Two cheers, rather than three.

Back in the Spring, we had a deadline to look forward to, even if it seemed impossibly distant. Now, there is no exit strategy in sight. Johnson talks of easing the country back into the discredited Three Tier System. His scientists talk of restrictions into the Spring.

It sounds like they have been secretly confronted with some frightening medical evidence of what might be in store.

I think they should level with us. We can take pretty well anything, except being kept in the dark by politicians.

People have good reason to feel bewildered. West Yorkshire was due to go into Tier Three today. That is now cancelled. They go straight to lockdown on Thursday, with the rest of the country.

It may be shorter this time, and now we know the rules, the sacrifice should be easier for the sake of lives and the NHS. But lockdown in winter will be harder. I can’t look forward to planting and growing in the allotment. The nights are getting longer, the days are getting colder.

This time, we have to put everything into the struggle. Let’s go to it.