What did you hear at today’s news briefing led by Boris Johnson? As ever with this charlatan it’s what you may have missed that matters. And, boy, what things they were.
You may have heard the PM express “optimism and fundamental hope” that schools will be open again in the spring, but anyone could have said that. Look at it another way: Johnson declined to say that schools would open again this side of summer. I suppose we should cut the man some slack. It was only two days ago when he urged parents to send their children to school and one since he said he hoped to reopen them after half-term. Spoiler alter: this will not happen.
But it was Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty who rather gave the game away when he commented that some lockdowns might still be needed next winter because “this virus is not going away”.
It was clear that the reason for the briefing was to change the subject and raise spirits by talking about the vaccine. But even that’s not going brilliantly. Johnson boasted of over a million people now being vaccinated: we have as many active cases of COVID-19. This is not a success story.
I feel much worse about the current situation than I did last March when Johnson belatedly locked down for the first time. The number of infections, the record number of hospital beds being occupied and soon four figure daily death totals with a virus wildly out of control.
Johnson’s faux optimism leaves me cold. Instead of bluster and bullshit, how about some truth? Last March, Johnson said the virus would be in retreat in 12 weeks. In the autumn, he said Christmas would be back to normal. Now he hopes to emerge from the newly-imposed national lockdown in mid-February. Non-sense.
I know people have booked holidays for the Easter break and many more in the summer of 2021. I hope they all get their breaks – my God, people so deserve them – but I am worried about our own main holiday which is scheduled for September. When Johnson said he hoped to lift restrictions in February, I can only conclude he means February 2022. With our lying opportunist of a prime minister, we just can’t be too sure.
