Kirstie claims we’ve become a land of snoopers

NO ONE knows better than Kirstie Allsopp that an Englishman’s home is his castle, but the property queen claims lockdown is turning us into a nation of curtain-twitchers and nosy neighbours.

The Government’s social distancing rules have encouraged people to report nearby households to the police for alleged breaches. And comely television presenter Kirstie tells me: ‘It’s such a toxic environment and there’s so much abuse out there.’

The Location, Location, Location host is isolating in rural Devon with her partner, property developer Ben Andersen, and their two sons.

‘I don’t get it as badly as some other people do, but every day someone accuses me of something I haven’t done,’ she tells me.

Kirstie, pictured, who is the daughter of former Christie’s chairman Lord Hindlip, was accused earlier this month of risking infecting the village where she is staying by bringing a television crew to her house. The eightstrong team drove 175 miles from London to film a lockdown craft show and are believed to have stayed at her 30-acre country pile for two weeks. Some locals were furious, with one quoted as saying: ‘Many of us are elderly. It’s highly irresponsible.’ The film crew shot ten episodes of Channel 4’s

Keep Crafting And Carry On. However, each member had selfisolated for weeks in advance of the programme.

Kirstie said at the time: ‘No one who was filming here went anywhere near the village.

‘We are encouraging people to stay at home and be adaptive for their mental health — and for fun.’

Now, she tells me we’re becoming a society of snoopers.

‘The whole snooping culture has just been dead miserable,’ she says. ‘What everyone needs is to get back to work, because once they do, they won’t be interested in what their neighbours are doing.’

Strictly contestants often have secret dance lessons before setting foot on the show, claims chat show host Alan Carr. ‘I’m on the rumour list to appear every year — I will do it one day,’ he says. ‘Let me do a cheeky little dance at my local college first, for I know for a fact some of the contestants do that. I would be so having a cheeky pasodoble before I went out in the series. No one wants to go out in week one, do they?’ Time to name names, Alan!