A letter to Boris... in eternal hope...
DEAR Boris, Here’s a few things that we really need to hear in your announcement next week...
1. The vaccines are working
The 15million most vulnerable people in the UK have now received their first vaccine, according to Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi. More than half a million people have now received their second dose too. We want to hear that you’re on course to vaccinate all over 50s by at least the end of March, that the most vulnerable will also have had their second dose by then and that all of us will be vaccinated by the summer. We also need to hear that the vaccines are proving effective on all strains and mutations of the virus.
2. That we actually have a worldclass test and trace system
The £22billion NHS Test and Trace system, which actually had little to do with the NHS, was just not good enough. In September, SAGE concluded it was only having a marginal impact on the spread of the virus. In December, the National Audit Office found it was only contacting two out of every three contacts of people with a positive test result and was only delivering 40% of test results within 24 hours. For us to come out of lockdown with any chance of avoiding yet another Covid wave, we need a system that works. We know that post lockdown there are likely to be pockets where coronavirus cases spike and we need to accept that there may be local lockdowns. But we need that to be against a backdrop of a functioning test and trace system so those local spikes can be contained. We want to hear on Monday that all the issues with test and trace have genuinely been sorted and we can be confident in its effectiveness.
3. That our children can go back to school
For millions of other parents and for the mental wellbeing, socialisation and development of our children, homeschooling has gone on long enough now. I want you to announce not just that all children can go back to school on March 8 but that it’s safe for them, for the teachers and for us for them to be there. I want to see you not just thank the schools and the teachers who have been forced onto the frontline and also had to deliver an entirely new system of teaching during the pandemic but also reward them by lifting the pay freeze for 2021 and giving them all fair reward for what has been one of the most challenging jobs in lockdown.
4. That our NHS staff will be recognised and rewarded for their efforts during the pandemic
And while I’m on the subject of fair pay, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has exempted NHS workers from this year’s public sector pay freeze but pay rises promised by Health Secretary Matt Hancock last year have been delayed. In the meantime, many nurses and healthcare staff are burnt out and there remain hundreds of thousands of nursing vacancies across the country. They deserve so much more. Please announce a significant pay rise for the NHS in spite of the financial restraints of lockdown. It’s what they deserve and what we need to retain a healthy National Health Service.
5. That sport can return, shops can open and pubs and restaurant openings are imminent
Of course, nothing should open until it’s safe, but we all want a return to normal life. One on one sports like golf and tennis should never have been scrapped. Grassroots sport is essential for the wellbeing of children and adults. Shops, pubs and restaurants are all struggling to keep going and the sooner they can return safely, the better. A realistic timetable that shows us that normal life is just around the corner will keep us all going through the rest of winter.
6. That holidays are back on this summer
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps sent the UK’s tourism industry – and all of us hoping for an end to this nightmare – into a pit of despair when he told us all not to book a summer holiday earlier this month. Many hotel, campsite, pub and restaurant owners were hoping for – if not relying on – a bumper summer this year. For the rest of us, a summer holiday feels like a ray of hope we were all clinging onto. Please just let us know that this roadmap ends in a 2021 summer of holidays and pub beer gardens – if not wild parties, festivals and hugging strangers, preferably without vaccine passports.
7. That we will never, ever go through this again
We’re done with pandemics now. We just want all our friends and family vaccinated and safe from Covid19. We don’t want to lose any more loved ones. We’ve had a year of our lives stolen and despite all the positives we might be able to glean from our quieter lives, we never want to do it again. Please, in this muchanticipated announcement, tell us that this will never, ever happen again. That we’ve found a better way to deal with any future global pandemic.
We’ve had enough of false promises. We’ve had enough of bad news. Please give us some good news, some hope in this announcement. And this time please make it happen.
We’ve had a year of our lives stolen and despite all the positives we never want to do it again