“It is outrageous, frankly. This is the sort of behaviour – giving contracts to you pub landlord and your best mates – that you would expect in a banana republic” (David Lammy)
Is it a Nebula?
Unfortunately, the omens proved accurate. After a wobbly start Monday, I admitted defeat and returned to bed with the characteristic sinus symptoms. I wrote and posted blogs while Phil catered. Due to copious amounts of herbs, the soup he made for dinner was a lot tastier than my creations. “You’re too cautious” he observed astutely.
Vaccine invites were sent to the over 65’s and UKHospitality nicked Dodd’s idea. A letter to Rishi Rich urged extending the 5% VAT and business rate holiday into the next financial year. 60 CRG members signed a letter demanding the PM ended lockdown by April. Boris responded he would stick to the plan for a ‘cautious but irreversible’ easing, providing target dates with a caveat that plans would be delayed if necessary. Stephen Reicher of SPI-B* warned “people begin to be hopeless and helpless” if given dates weren’t met and advised providing information on positive action. While a third of social care staff still hadn’t had a shot, an Israeli study found infections dropped 94% with the Pfizer vaccine. The Cock wanted hard data, not just trial stats, that they reduced the spread by almost 2 thirds. The government considered a jab passport, muted to be for travel, not going to the pub or shops. Sage bod Rob Dingwall spluttered: “the idea you have to have a passport to go round Tesco is just ludicrous.”
Mike Tildesley said there was no evidence “to suggest that school attendance is a significant driver of outbreaks in the community,” but needed careful monitoring when pupils returned. Explaining further on Newsnight alongside fellow eggheads Prof Christina Pagel (UCL) and Wonky Doctor, he added: “March should be about children” and the effect on the R number assessed before shops opened. He also suggested foreign holidays were a no-no in 2021 but domestic ones may be possible ‘with caution’. He agreed with Wonky Doctor’s call to scale up immunisations in urban areas and use mobile vans to increase uptake in deprived communities. She acknowledged local leaders had a part to play but the government needed to support them, not merely delegate responsibility. Pagel said infections had to be suppressed to prevent new variants rising, and there was no such thing as ‘an acceptable death rate’ this year. She wanted a measles approach (the disease eliminated and outbreaks dealt with when they arose), rather than an influenza approach and interestingly observed the lack of a flu season anywhere in the world during the past year. Was a Covid-free future possible? The local Covid support group seemed to think so. They’d launched a petition calling for ‘zero Covid’.
On Shrove Tuesday, the first red letter day since new year, I felt slightly better on waking, performed a few stretches, opened the curtains then had a wobble and collapsed on the bed. Charles Bonnet syndrome featured on BBC Breakfast. “Is that what you’ve got?” I asked Phil, referring to his sight issue. “I wouldn’t admit it if I did.” Affecting a camp pose worthy of Count Arthur, he shrieked: “Ooh! I’m Charles Bonnet!” Work on the journal took most of the day. During afternoon quiet time, the onset of rain signalled a drop in temperature. I lay under the covers waiting for the heating to come on before getting coffee and bonus cream cake Phil found in the co-op’s reduced section. Making traditional pancakes for dinner, they created swirly patterns as they cooked. One resembled a nebula. I posted a picture on Facebook prompting the comment it was eggs-tra terrestrial. Why didn’t I think of that!
Another Planet
Covid cases down 15% in the past week, 1:5 now had antibodies meaning 8m people were resistant to the virus. David Speigelhalter of Cambridge University called it: “extraordinary…with the vaccine starting to kick in, we’re really seeing a very rapid fall.” Clive Dix of The Vaccine Task Force said all adults would probably get both jabs by the end of summer. AZ trials on 6-17 year olds began, in Oxford, London, Bristol and Southampton. Similar experiments took place using Pfizer and Moderna in the US. The government told an extra 1.7m English citizens to shield. “Who?” I asked. “It’s obviously crowd control,” responded Phil. Wondering if it was a ruse to contain overweight men, Prof Hayward came on Newsnight to tell us the ‘Q Covid’ algorithm was “very sophisticated”. “I’m sure it is,” Phil muttered cynically. A day after traveller quarantine started, PHE found 38 cases of a new ‘variant under investigation’ (B.1.525; possibly Nigerian). More surge tests began in Norfolk, Southampton, Surrey and Manchester. Border force were allegedly given advice a mere 7 hours before implementation of the new rules. It’s a disgrace!” The PCS cried.
The government belatedly published information on their website about a possible extra £1,200 charge for people in Q hotels who tested positive. 4 arrivals at Birmingham airport were fined £10k each for lying about their country of origin but not imprisoned.
The IFS advised furlough end gradually and changes to Universal Credit stay put, but VAT, income tax and National Insurance may have to rise to pay for the pandemic. In Myanmar, Suu Kyi was newly charged under article 25 of the country’s Natural Disaster Management Law. Used to prosecute breaches of Covid laws, the politics of the country seemed as remote as those of another planet.
Still bedridden Wednesday, work on the journal proved interminable. I switched to online shopping, at last finding an Ocado delivery slot. Not due until a week Friday, at least I got to use a wine voucher, which I’d almost forgotten about and had to retrieve from the e-mail bin.
During quiet time, I was unable to relax then my phone rang. The local Covid support group asked if I wanted a volunteer to come round with soup and a sandwich. Not in need of such a kind offer, I politely declined. I also wondered how it worked, given physical space issues. Adding their number to contacts, I tried to link 3 for Elder Sis, ringing her by accident. There was no answer. She called back later but the connection dropped out. Switching to WhatsApp, we compared notes on coping with lockdown and not yet being invited for inoculation.
Phil joked he was going to the Covid Arms. “There must be one round here. People are stupid enough.” The only one I heard of was in a makeshift garage in Dudley, not far from a nightclub in Birmingham. Local news reported house parties in Scarborough. We agreed they were all a bit of a trek.
In a Human Challenge Trial, 90 healthy young adults, aged 19-30, would be injected with a tiny amount of the original virus strain at The Royal Free Hospital. Dix said: “we expect these studies to offer unique insights into how the virus works and…which promising vaccines offer the best chance of preventing the infection.” The EU set to approve Janssens’ version, ex-Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt wrote in the EU Observer: “Europe is the world leader in vaccine production (over 75%)…nevertheless there is a crucial lack of supply…contracts are extremely unbalanced…” He went on to lambast the use of article 16 as: “a diplomatic disaster…(which) destroyed in a few seconds the seriousness of the negotiations with the UK, conducted by Michel Barnier for more than 3 years.” He advocated a separate European agency, as I suggested weeks ago. The latest Handforth Paris Council meeting got 3,000 viewers on YouTube. Jackie Weaver absent, hecklers were chucked off. Mount Etna erupted, covering villages in rocks and ash. Snow covered 3 quarters of America. A polar bear rolled about in the white stuff and frozen turtles had to be warmed up in Texas, where the state governor was lambasted for going to sunny Florida on his jollies. On her last day as Child Commissioner, Anne Longfield demanded a ‘Covid Covenant’ with children at the heart.
Feeling no better on a blustery Thursday, I finally finished work on the journal and wrote Polar Trek for Cool Placesi. Phil went out, to the shop not the Covid Arms, seeing no coffee-cuppers at all.
Surge testing was planned in Harehills and other areas of Leeds where the SA variant had emerged. An Imperial College React study found infections were down to 1:200 (but higher in younger people), suggesting lockdown was working. Prof. Paul Elliot but disagreed with Prof. Pagel: “through contact tracing you can really keep control of the virus but it’s unlikely we’re going to get a situation like in New Zealand where it’s essentially Covid-free.” Facebook went to war on Australia, blocking news and Coronavirus info sites, in a spat over paying for content – who did they think they were?
NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on the red planet to investigate evidence of extra-terrestrial life. It endearingly tweeted “I’m safe on Mars’. Kier gave a major speech to an empty space, talking of a ‘moral crusade’ to address inequalities and injustices. Comparing current times to the post-war period, he referred to a ‘mood in the air’ and said “(Britain’s) collective sacrifice must lead to a better future.” The only concrete idea reported was recovery bonds to give people ‘a stake in the future’. Tory Chair Milling called it a bunch of second-hand ideas and ‘empty rhetoric’. On QT, debate centred on the plague. Liberal Layla Moran borrowed the phrase ‘no hokey-cokey’ from a questioner and referred to the Brazilian or Manaus variant or P1, re-infecting people. Prof. of Public Health Linda Bauld, said suppression was achievable leading to less risk of future mutants. Mark Harper of CRG insisted the economy open up on 8th March after the top priority groups had their first jab and Peter Borg-Neal of Oakman Inns claimed the rate went down in summer when pubs were operating. “No, it didn’t you liar!” I shouted at the telly, “we were under local restrictions for most of it! what planet are you on?”
Alien Invasion
Friday, I switched from writing to Photoshop, executing another idea for a collage while Phil fetched and carried. I managed the evening downstairs to eat pizza, drink some wine and watch films.
The ONS said the R rate was now 0.9 and infections were at 1:115, less than the React study. The Supreme Court ruled that Uber drivers should class as employees. With huge implications for the gig economy, union lawyers called for clarity between the bona-fide self-employed and ‘contractors’. Government borrowing hit £8.8bn in January 2020, leading to a total state debt of an astronomical £2,114.6bn.
I succeeded in a few hours out of bed on Saturday, but after expunging dust from the bedroom, stayed there to work on Photoshop. Going back down for lunch, I stayed up to cook and eat dinner. Thanks to a few gins, I enjoyed quite a good sleep to awake on Sunday feeling refreshed.
Rhubarb from the mysterious triangle featured on Sunday Brunch. We decided to try and source some at the farmer’s market. Crossing the old bridge, we found the riverside and square infested by non-locals, evidenced by a jam-packed carpark. Coffee-drinking and pizza-eating abounded. Weaving carefully to the knobbly veg stall, we made a few purchases but alas, no rhubarb. Stunned by the milling about, we retreated to a back wall. Several police and other officials patrolled but appeared ineffectual. “What are they meant to do?“ Phil asked. “Stop people on the road before they get into town!” I retorted. I ill-advisedly followed him on a whizz round the rest of market. Fraught, we crossed to the cash machine and chatted to an old pal who worked at the convenience store about the Covid madness until her lift arrived. Going back the shortest route, we watched Canada Geese unusually swimming upstream in the river rather than paddling in the still waters of the canal and climbed up the inn’s fire escape for views of rooftops and a rising moon. Nearer home, we noted the emergence of spring flowers and the first honeybee of the year, but suspected the snowdrop it harvested was an alien species. I’d already spotted tree buds across the valley and crocuses in our window box, but hadn’t seen the veritable field invading next door’s garden. Exhausted and stressed from all the dodging, I collapsed on the sofa. At least I got out of the house. I only hoped we weren’t infected by the horde of Covidiots! Recovering with coffee, I edited photos and wrote a haigaii.
17.5m (a third of the adult population) had received at least 1 jab. While the Metro predicted we’d be inoculated by mid-March, the government now said it would be mid-April for the over 55’s. Easyjet announced virtual lessons for 7-10 year olds as part of the Amy Johnson initiative. The Good Law Project had started a case against The Scumbag’s mates Public Front, awarded focus group contracts. The ex-aide predictably denied cronyism. The Cock subsequently appeared on Marr to gainsay a High Court ruling that there was a lack of transparency when giving contracts to tory chums and lied about the wonderful job they did of supplying the NHS with PPE at the start of the pandemic. “People can make up their own minds.” Err, we have, you knobhead! You must think we have goldfish brains! David Lammy decried giving contracts to mates and the local pub landlord as resembling a banana republic. The Cock admitted to uncertainty over the effectiveness of vaccines against the SA variant. One case found in Brentwood, Essex, surge testing started. As Israeli bars opened, ‘green passes’ had to be shown to gain entry. A few clues on the exit road map for England emerged , but that would have to wait…
*SPI-B – Scientific Influenza Group on Behaviours
References:
i. My Cool Places blog: https://hepdenerose.wordpress.com/
ii. My haigas: https://wordpress.com/posts/mondaymorninghaiga.wordpress.com
The Corvus Diaries 