Devine singles out NHS for tribute
COUNTRY and Western legend Sydney Devine has paid tribute to the NHS with a new song – from his hospital bed.
The 81-year-old, pictured, was admitted to Ayr Hospital almost three weeks ago after falling ill at home. He is still suffering from a chest and lung condition but his family have been informed he does not have Covid.
The singer and his wife Shirley, 83, both fell unwell at home in Ayr on January 23. Mrs Devine returned home hours later but her husband remains in hospital with what his daughter Karen described as a ‘mystery illness’.
Despite his condition the star has insisted the song, recorded over the summer, is released. The single, They’re All Heroes, an adaptation of an Australian song, has been taken from his new album Hero, his 51st studio release in a career spanning 65 years.
NORMALLY at this time of year, we’re sifting through our selection of romantic hotels — those with champers on ice and rose petals in the bath. Instead, we’re wrestling with the thought of ten nights at an airport hotel or ten years in the slammer for giving misinformation at the border.
First through the door of any hotel turned open prison should, of course, be UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who may go down as the man who single-handedly sent dozens of travel firms to the wall by his ill-informed remark that no one should book holidays.
It was always thought that former chancellor Philip Hammond lacked charisma but was on top of his brief. Shapps is the reverse — forever bouncy but worryingly wayward on the detail. You can — and should — book a holiday this summer, as long as it’s one you can cancel without being penalised.
Package holiday companies are more prepared than they were at the start of the pandemic. They desperately need new deposits and, in return, are offering much greater flexibility, as we show on Page 65.
One explanation for all the mixed messages is that government head honchos such as Shapps and Matt Hancock are living in their own self-important bubbles, always busy, forever in demand, fuelled by adrenaline, ferried about in their ministerial motors.
Speaking of Hancock, his ‘I’ve booked a holiday in Cornwall’ is bound to become a euphemism for a brighter future. Or, at least, hope deferred. ‘How are you doing?’ ‘Well, I’ve booked a week in Cornwall.’
Then an email arrives from Trailfinders, incandescent about the ‘ignorance’ of senior government ministers and demanding an urgent retraction from Shapps for talking ‘nonsense’.
The missive ends with a quote from dear old President Reagan (above, in his acting days): ‘The most terrifying words in the English language are: “I’m from the government and here to help”.’
BOOKING websites such as Pitchup and CoolCamping let customers know what measures are in place for each campsite on their listings.
These include: contactless check-in, distance markers in shared facilities, extra spacing in seating areas, daily deep cleaning of shared areas, providing masks and gloves,
one-way systems, capacity reductions and any booking times for showers.
THE Camping and Caravanning Club lists measures (at least six metres between pitches, face masks indoors, contactless check-in and using the NHS track and trace app) at campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk/measures
EMBERS CAMPING, which operates sites across the south of England sets out its measures at emberscamping. co.uk/covid-19-faqs.
MANY campsites are signed up to VisitBritain’s ‘We’re Good to Go’ industry standard mark, so sites can demonstrate they are complying with safety standards.