Whilst the country might not be 'dying', I entirely concur with the thrust of Jennifer's post.The country has been in one form or another lockdown now for over 15 months. No matter how successful some countries have been at dealing with covid, they have all at one time or another experienced a spike in cases or a new localised cluster, e.g. Australia recently. I'm sure in afew weeks our new cases will be declining again, whereas those countries currently experiencing very few cases, e.g. Czech Republic etc. will see an increase, peaks and troughs and all that.It's unlikely that covid is going away for good anytime soon, but we have to live with it and adapt to it and get on with our lives. The culture of 'fear' felt by a small minority cannot be allowed to dictate what the population as a whole can and can't do.Of course sensible, reasonable precautions should be taken. I was down in various parts of London and the south-east undertaking surveys yesterday and was amused at how I saw several market traders not wearing masks or gloves selling fruit and veg to customers who were wearing masks - if you're worried about covid enough to wear a mask outdoors, then why would you buy food from someone not wearing a mask or gloves ?!.And what about the stories you see in the media about businesses having problems recruiting ?. Why is that ?. Or people really too 'scared' to work or simply happy to milk the cash-cow the government has handed over for far too long ?. Isn't it absurd that the furlough and self-employed support schemes are still paying out ?.Speaking as someone who hasn't been given a penny and has sustained a business through covid (indeed a business that is now the busiest it has ever been) I'm sick to death of hearing covid used as an excuse. Dealing with local authorities as I do everyday, prior to the pandemic their performance generally was 'so-so', but now, virtually across the board at every Council, their performance is simply lamentable. In many places Councils are taking 4-6 weeks just to validate a planning application, a process that should take a couple of days. And everything is submitted electronically, so there's no reason or justification for the delay - if I can find the time to prepare and submit applications, then Councils should be able to validate them within a reasonable timescale.But everytime the same old line comes out "we're sorry but some Council services have been reduced/delayed due to the redeployment of personal as a result of the pandemic", yeah right, and how about Councils putting staff on furlough ? (for example Bournemouth and Poole Council furloughed 500 staff, so that's 500 salaries you and I are effectively paying for whilst the poor sods who live in that Borough get an even worse service than they had before).
Adam Beamish ● 1944d