The Great Sleep is over. Now get Britain’s pulse beating again

AT LAST we all have a chance to do our bit in the revival of the economy and the restarting of normal life.

We may still have to wait a while to hear the church bells ring out (not much longer, we trust), but at least the tills have been bleeping busily this weekend. This is music to the ears of Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who is most anxious to see the economy powering up again.

And quite right too. The economy is not just statistics and money, it is the muscle, the pulse and the blood pressure of society. If the economy falters, everything falters, the lights of life grow dimmer and the world slows down, the young and healthy cannot find work, the old and the ill cannot be sustained by vigorous social and health services.

So we need our economy back at full power, and for that to happen the country needs to be awakened from its trance of bingeing on box-sets and ordering goods on the internet while work habits and normal social interaction alike fade from our memories.

So how exhilarating to see hairdressers open again, a morale-booster (especially for women) and a rite of passage back to normal life for those who have been forced to neglect their appearance – or have been able to get away with it because everyone else is in the same position.

And how good, likewise, to see pubs and restaurants switch on their lights and open doors which have been glumly locked and bolted for more than three dark, silent months. Actually there is no real substitute for these things. Takeaways are all very well, but the sheltered, closeted and sofa-centred life of the past few weeks is beginning to turn far too many of us into puddings who have begun to forget the pulse of routine, the give-and-take of interaction with colleagues, the simple pleasures of just going out whether it is for a pint of beer, an evening of bingo or a church service.

Across town and country it seemed as if half the buildings had simply lost their purpose, as if the country had been enchanted by a spell compelling it to slumber like Sleeping Beauty. Now the spell has, for the most part, been lifted.

There are annoying changes. Let us hope that many of the measures now advised by the Government will fade out of use as the danger of the virus diminishes.

A restaurant meal loses some of its joy when it is served by a person in a visor. A pub is less of a pub when you can’t go up to the bar and you are asked to give your personal details before being served.

Several areas of life – such as swimming pools and gyms – still remain rather mysteriously closed. Foreign travel is complicated. But the Prime Minister’s decision to end the ban on cricket is a welcome sign of flexibility, and gives some hope that the more irksome obstacles to life as we knew it cannot last forever.

And as long as there is hope – and the Government’s increasing proficiency with tracing and testing offers more such hope – we can tolerate these temporary nuisances as necessary precautions on the road back to normality.

Better still, we can all do our bit, today and from now on, in restoring and reviving the commerce and business, the basic bloodstream of daily life, saving and creating jobs, helping ourselves and our fellow citizens on the steep climb back to prosperity.