For goodness sake, let us out of here!
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FOUR authors have quit the literary agency that represents JK Rowling in protest over her views on transgender people.
The creator, above, of the Harry Potter series, worth around £750million, has been the target of many in the “trans community” due to her candid views, although she has also stated she would march with them if they were ever victims of discrimination.
One of the four authors has opted to remain anonymous but the other three, whom I won’t bother to list as they struggle to be names in their own households, have said they are “saddened and disappointed”.
Their blistering sense of selfimportance is matched only by their obscurity.
IT WAS never going to be easy. Having locked down the country as tight as a maiden aunt’s corset, loosening the ties in an attempt to get the country to take the baby steps back towards whatever the new “norm” might be was bound to both present a huge challenge and, most likely, throw up a good few puzzling surprises.
But just how have we managed to get to a place where, in six days, we’ll be able to go to the pub after a game of bingo but not to the gym, we can get our hair cut but not get a manicure, our children can go the cinema, but not to school (unless they’re in certain age groups) and we can play tennis but not cricket?
In fairness they were never going to get it 100 per cent right, and even with this somewhat watered down list of what is allowed to open up they still faced widespread criticism that they’re unlocking too much.
Lockdown zealots scream that England (remember we’re in absolutely no way whatsoever a united kingdom with respect to handling this coronavirus crisis) is moving too fast in striving to reach some form of normality, as if there was something wrong in the bid to get the country moving again.
Do these people really expect the nation to carry on with this self-imposed stripping of most of our liberties?
Remember, we’re £300billion in the hole, and to give that some context, it is almost as much as it would take to run the entire NHS for two years.
The chief arguments appear to be that there is still too much risk in easing any of the measures and even then we should wait until a vaccine is discovered.
Seeing as this is unlikely to be achieved before the end of the year the logic behind this dictates we might as well put up a “Closed” sign on the nation’s front door.
Don’t worry about children not going back to school any more – this would ensure we couldn’t afford teachers to put in those schools anyway.
As for risk, no one’s daily life is without risk. Even getting up in the morning and going to the bathroom or walking down the stairs has a risk and if anything this government has allowed itself to be locked in limbo too much and for too long at the behest of the scientific panels they consult.
The most puzzling decision, though, has to be not to allow indoor gyms or swimming pools to open on “independence day” of July 4.
Everyone accepts we’re in an obesity crisis. Research last week revealed the average weight much of the nation has put on during the lockdown is between four and seven pounds yet while we’ve ensured the burger bars are already open and you can get a pizza more swiftly on some occasions than you can an ambulance, we’re just about to open the pubs but not the gyms!
The UK has 7,000 gyms and leisure centres with 10.4 million members, which is around one in six of the population. It also employs 190,000 people and is an £8billion-a-year industry, but remains shut.
The case for opening pools is compelling as, while not proved, it is widely thought that chlorine can kill the virus. Even Jane Nickerson, chief executive of Swim England, says: “Prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s safer to go into a pub than a pool and I’ll shut up.” Surely she’s right?
As the storm broke over the confusion the Government’s plans had created, they scrambled to try to recover ground with
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden saying their “aspiration is to reopen gyms and leisure facilities in mid-july”.
Again, right policy, wrong time. The leaden-footed response is underscored by the policy over schools with a promised opening date being shelved, and their inability to hold teaching unions to account.
Last week it was reported that all schools can reopen for the new term in September as the one-metre-plus social distancing guidance will be dropped, adding more confusion.
The answer for everything from gyms to schools and a game of cricket on the village green is to treat us as adults and allow us to employ our own common sense – let’s hit the doubters for six.
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TO KENT, where the latest virtuesignalling lunacy from the police is for officers to pose alongside a flag proclaiming rights for gypsies.
Seeing as their chief constable is the most senior copper in the country to “take the knee,” I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised.
But, as one resident in Kent pointed out, it was Armed Forces week last week and there seems to be a dearth of pictures of support for that.