This may be No Time to Die but, quite frankly, it’s anything but a great time to live! The positive amongst us who, perhaps, are more resigned than positive – or, merely, popping the pills – claim that life is all but back to normal. Normal? Are they nuts?! Yes, south of the border, masks may no longer be mandatory and the invisible bars may appear camouflaged due to a familiarity borne of almost two years but this is anything but normal! The Government’s Emergency Legislation is still live – affording the power and control to do just about anything at anytime – and the unlicenced vaccine rollout continues, unheeded, because of it. Some comment that COVID has slipped down the agenda of mainstream media, as though concrete evidence of a return to normal, but … oh, to be that naive; that trusting; that gullible! Look around. The damage may go, largely, unseen but the mental wounds are deep; the scars far-reaching. I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that nobody will ever be the same again. The months and months of confinement, isolation coupled with the indoctrination of fear have done their job. Many have been brought to their knees, whether it be physically, mentally, financially or, in some cases, all three. The more fortunate may appear unscathed but do not be fooled by the mask. The relentless media scaremongering – courtesy of manipulated data and a censored, completely biased narrative – has ensured long-lasting fear; a fear which is going nowhere; one which is all around, now, as intrinsic as oxygen …
Take the teacher – let’s just call her Miss Bloodytypical (yes, marriage would be a blessing!) – who, today, bore witness to the fruits of the labour. One of several copied into an email from a colleague, she was informed that said colleague had, of her own volition, taken a lateral flow test, this morning, which had given a positive result. No symptoms. This colleague had, now, gone for a PCR test, when she was asked for the names of those with whom she had been in recent close contact. Miss B was one of those named as the two had, briefly, sat across the table from one another in the staff room yesterday. Right, no need to panic. Miss B continued her class as the other two teachers, named, did exactly that – panicked – leaving, immediately, to get a PCR test and self-isolate. Meanwhile, the school, now, received a phone call from Track & Trace and Miss B’s class was terminated as her pupils watched her pack up and leave. No explanation. Help, she must have been sacked!
Presenting for a PCR test in town, Miss B was told to wait outside in the freezing cold and fill out a government questionnaire, online – which all but included the circumference of her pinkie – before being granted entry and taken to a booth where she was left to follow instructions and perform her own test! No room for error, then … Back to the online form-filling, though – detail overload and requiring of information not commensurate with the task at hand? Blatant data collection. Meanwhile, Miss B would receive her result within one to three days, until which time she must self-isolate.
The problem? The whole scenario just highlights the ineptitude of the whole thing! First, the panic, then there’s the subterfuge but the real mockery is to be found in the fact that the colleague who named her ‘close’ contacts omitted to name one of them; just forgot. The contact, in question, had spent the longest in her company. Said contact, meanwhile, is continuing with her life as normal excepting the suggestion that she may wish to get tested! How does that work? Moreover, Miss B’s result came back negative – as did those of the other two. Now, for the ‘small print’: those under the age of 18 and those double vaccinated may re-join the outside world, unheeded; those who, for medical reasons, cannot be vaccinated may do the same. Ready for the rub? Those who choose to remain unvaccinated must continue to self-isolate for the statutory ten days. Of course! It’s a punishment for refusing to comply. Nothing to do with health or passing on the virus because, as we know, those vaccinated are still contagious and can still be infected … but, they came willingly and, therefore, must be rewarded. As for those for whom it is medically unsafe to be vaccinated – for the purpose of this context, only those who have a medical condition which prevents it – put it this way, if these instructions were for the greater good, they, too, should remain in isolation for the duration. The transparency leaves no room for doubt. We have ways of making you talk …
‘Food shortages. Fist fights on petrol station forecourts. Murder. Climate change. There was something the other day about how a child born in 2020 will experience seven times more extreme weather events than someone born in 1960 …’
Just a cheery little gem from an article by Jemima Lewis in Thursday’s (30/10/21) Telegraph. I mean, seriously, send me someone to cheer me up …
Piers Morgan! Who would have thought? Late Friday at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and there he was. I told him he had been hiding his light under a bushel – who knew that he played golf? He replied that his performance today suggested that he didn’t! Anyway, let me tell you about the nicest guy … Last to come off the 18th on the Old, it was bitterly cold. As if by magic, a crowd had suddenly gathered behind the barriers as he laughed and chatted to those around him while waiting to be interviewed. What can I say, as soon as the camera rolled, there was no doubting that it was him as he switched, immediately, to professional mode. Job done, he was being encouraged to leave but, beckoned by a group of students, he, happily, went over to chat, have his photograph taken and send messages to absent friends. In his element, he had time for everyone, coming to us last. I couldn’t resist telling him I was there on behalf of Meghan Markle, to which he laughed and said ‘Don’t start me!’, before, obligingly, sending a video message to Manny. What can I say? I have met many ‘celebrities’ over the years and few have disappointed but this guy has a reputation. A cut-throat journalist known for being controversial, he takes no prisoners nor suffers fools and, for that, alone, he has earned my respect. However, beneath it all, he is a big softie, as he frequently demonstrates on his Life Stories. So it was that, belying his fame, wealth, position earned and all the amazing people he has met, there was no air of arrogance or entitlement. Instead, sharp, witty, friendly and kind, he gave me every justification for including him at my fictitious dinner table of lockdown 2020! Intelligent and self-deprecating, with him, one would never be bored.
The moral? Never doubt the power of prayer …
‘Freedom of speech is a hill I’m happy to die on. Thanks for all the love, and hate. I’m off to spend more time with my opinions.’
Piers Morgan on Twitter.
My kind of guy. All that’s missing is the cowboy hat!
This is Trish, signing off.
