Things can only get better in 2021

It has been one heck of a year. The UK left the EU on 31January, then Covid hit in March. Since then, everyones lives have been turned upside down. Thngs shut in March with the first lockdown -the streets went quiet, the birds could be heard. People reached out to help each other in their times of difficulty. We did also see the selfishness of panic buying for a while, until the supermarkets brought it under control. In the summer months, there was the emergence from lockdown, with an effort to get people to re-engage, with schemes like eat out to help out. Things began to change in September, as children returned to schools and students to universities. Rates of infection began to rise. The government refused to follow scientific advice for a circuit breaker lockdown of two weeks. Instead, it waited, until forced to go into a month long lockdown in November. At the same time it stubbornly continued to keep schools open, putting pupils, teachers and parents at risk. This move also negated much of the positive impact of lockdown in curbing the disease. Government has repeatedly hit hospitality, despite the lack of evidence that the sector was a major spreader of the disease. In fact it was highly regulated and responsibly run The government has much to answer for in this crisis, from the early failures to provide Personal Protective Equipment to the repeated failure to come up with an adequate track and trace system. The authority of the government has also ebbed ever since chief advisor Dominic Cummings was allowed to break lockdown rules and continue in post The good news is the arrival of vaccines. These are now being administered and it is hoped will see the country return to something like normality in 2021. This though will take some time. The Covid virus is causing much collateral damage, with knock on effects to other illnesses like cancer, heart disease and dementia. The damage done to people'mental health will be huge. There already is a big impact on the economy with job losses growing. The UK economy is so service sector based that it will be slower to recover than others. Leaving the EU will make things worse. Despite all this gloom, we must look to 2021 to be a better year. A year when Covid can be brought under control and we move forward as a more unified country. One where neighbour has discovered neighbour and we've realsed no one is an island. A realisation as to how important health and the environment are to the future of this planet. There should be a new determination moving forward to overcome Covid and make sure that similar catastrophies are avoided in the future. Happy New Year. Published - Wanstead and Woodford Guardian - 31/12/2021