Like many others no doubt, I was becoming
listless and cranky as Lockdown meandered on endlessly, my fragile sense of
humour dulled, my appetite for daytime TV more than sated, and my indignation
at the world in general (but Macron, Merkel and Sturgeon in particular)
bubbling over catastrophically. Yet in the last few days some hope has
returned, Boris has unveiled his “roadmap” to the end of the pandemic with his
usual optimism, and maybe we will indeed splash around on that Greek beach and
show off our well-toned torsos (ahem?) by the late summer. That would be Bliss!
My cherished Hippy’s Beach Bar in
Karlovasi, Samos
I crave normality, welcoming pubs for a pint of
bitter, supermarkets in which to make leisurely choices, useful shops
functioning to sell me watch-straps, cosy slippers or bore an extra hole in my
belt, skilled tradesmen about to fix the boiler or mend a delinquent light,
bookshops to browse. We need to be able to get away from it all, without
harassment from some over-officious policeman. It is time to shake ourselves
awake, to cut free from the toils of the nanny state, to defy unfettered
“authority” and to strike out on our own chosen path. We are free-born Britons,
observing the rule of law, but we have to reclaim our liberty.
In the interim and as a pragmatic exception, I
guess Covid vaccination passports will become a necessity and we already hear
the illiberal “no jab, no job” mantra. We are on the horns of a dilemma – the health
of the nation, and indeed the health of our families, friends and loved ones,
is a cause of huge concern. We need to find a better balance between health and
liberty than the crude mechanics of Lockdown. No civilised government can
forcibly vaccinate its population – a range of incentives, of carrots and
sticks, has to be found and applied. Politicians, don your thinking caps!
The pandemic obviously is best tamed by
wide-ranging international cooperation. This virtuous quality has been
conspicuously absent, especially in Europe. Luckily for the UK, in a
combination of luck and good judgment, it has plentiful supplies of effective
vaccine and had jabbed many more arms that its usual rivals in France, Germany
and Italy. The EU was slow to secure supplies, is plagued by anti-vaxxers and
the roll-out of its programme seems easily to get stuck. Britain is blamed for
these problems, quite inexplicably, and Macron and Merkel have disparaged the
excellent Astra-Zeneca / Oxford product in a shameful, forlorn, self-destructive
campaign. The EU will take a long time to accept that the UK is a free agent
with different priorities to those of Europe, or forgive us for leaving their
protectionist clique. The EU seems to be intent on damaging the UK whenever it
can; I hope our leaders are wise enough to refrain from any too drastic
retaliation at this sensitive time. But thank God we have left the smothering
EU!
The unedifying slugging match between Sturgeon
and Salmond totters on. Neither of these two characters hold any appeal to me
and I hope both slide back into their respective fetid swamp. However, the
Union is in peril and Labour, once a dominant power in Scotland, needs to wake
up and join with the Scottish Tories in combatting independence pipe-dreams and
SNP repression. An attractive cross-party programme of reform needs to be put
together – I look to Michael Gove to take a lead in this.
But it is a day to be upbeat. In sober
Folkestone the sun is shining happily and the promenade and avenues are
carpeted in white and purple crocuses.
It is a day to burst into song and please join me with Ivor Novello’s “We’ll
gather Lilacs in the Spring again” from his 1945 musical Perchance to
Dream, so redolent of nostalgia and reunion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T29bxIh_krI&ab_channel=Jymster46
SMD
26.02.21
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald
2021
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