Life on hold: a year of lockdown

A year ago today, Boris Johnson addressed the nation to deliver the most sombre message most people now living had ever heard from a Prime Minister: “You must stay at home.” The word

“lockdown”, like “coronavirus”, “Covid-19” and “pandemic”, had not previously featured in our vocabularies. Little did we know that, a year on, we would be mourning 126,000 dead and

countless others whose lives have been blighted by an invisible adversary. But we knew that this was a turning point, a day of judgement. Many people prayed, perhaps for the first time in

their lives, to be delivered from this evil.

Since that dies irae, we have become accustomed to so many new and hitherto unimaginable realities that the novelty has worn off. The “new normal” is old hat. We have been putting life on

hold for so long that fast forwarding it again now seems alarming for many of us. A Red Cross poll about loneliness in lockdown released this week shows that a third of us are concerned

about meeting people in person, while 40 per cent are worried that they won’t reconnect with those with whom they have lost contact during the last year.

There were unforgettable highs and lows during the first lockdown. We clapped for the NHS and when tens of thousands (including the Prime Minister) fell dangerously ill, we cheered on the

tireless teams of doctors and nurses who saved innumerable lives. We found the streets eerily empty and savoured the unprecedented cleanliness of the air. There were outbreaks of good humour

and the Blitz spirit was predominant. 

People went back to nature where they could, in such numbers that, once the pandemic is over, our wilder open spaces will require rewilding. Yet it may be no bad thing that many of us have

been forced to reconsider our unhealthy lifestyles: obesity is firmly established as a risk factor in Covid, as in so many other diseases. For many of us, working out — both physical and

mental exercise — has been the most memorable discovery of the past year.

Not everyone has behaved well. Some took advantage of the avalanche of public money for masks, PPE and other equipment, often with a little help from their friends in high places. Not

everyone obeyed the rules; not all of those who were found out paid the price. The most notorious of the rule-breakers, Dominic Cummings, strutted and fretted his hour upon the stage, before

leaving it after the Night of the Long Stilettos (a term coined in this column). Far from being heard no more, however, Cummings is now auditioning for a comeback as the Cassandra of

Downing Street. Hindsight is a dish best served cold.

Lockdown sceptics gave vociferous expression to widespread frustration, but were ultimately unpersuasive. That argument continues, with Tory MPs threatening to rebel against any extension of

Covid restrictions. However, such prominent sceptics as Graham Brady MP, the Chairman of the 1922 Committee, and Lord Sumption, the former Supreme Court justice, have done their cause no

good at all by backing a report from the Hart group of dissident “experts” that seeks to cast doubt on the scientific consensus. The report makes a series of dubious claims, such as that

vaccines are “correlated” with the peak of mass deaths or that half the population is already immune. Scientists have dismissed the Hart report as “irresponsible”, but that is unlikely to

deter hardline sceptics: irresponsibility has been their stock in trade — in some cases, a profitable one.

What have we learnt in this strangest of years? We now know that Britain is a more resilient and resourceful country than many people had come to believe, especially during the seemingly

interminable Brexit negotiations. The NHS did not collapse, but rose magnificently to the multiple challenges of Covid. So, too, did all our essential services and key workers, as well as

voluntary neighbourhood networks that have seen us through the worst of it. The scientific community has astonished not only the nation but the world, discovering the first effective

treatment for Covid, Dexamethasone and, with AstraZeneca, producing one of the first, cheapest and most widely used vaccines. Most remarkable of all has been the speed of the vaccination

programme, staffed largely by volunteers, which has put the UK in the global vanguard as we emerge from the pandemic.

We have, of course, had false dawns before. Last summer, after months of draconian restrictions, the numbers of Covid cases had fallen so far that Rishi Sunak was encouraging us to “eat out

to help out” and social distancing went by the board. The pandemic duly returned and so did the lockdown. With Covid seemingly under control again, the Prime Minister kept his promise of a

“family Christmas”. Big mistake, for which the nation paid a heavy price, as a new wave of coronavirus struck Britain harder than ever in the New Year. We were only saved by the miracle of

vaccination. 

After so many dashed hopes and vicissitudes, egregious mistakes by the Government and premature socialising by the country, we could be forgiven for treating promises of liberation from

lockdown with scepticism. The euphoria that greeted the roadmap to freedom has been tempered by the advent of a third wave on the Continent — the effects of which, as Boris Johnson says,

will eventually wash up on our shores. We have found a path away from the darkest depths of the forest, but we are not out of the woods.

To liken the year of lockdown to a roller-coaster is not only a cliché but an understatement: it has been more like surfing a tsunami. After so many prophecies have proved unreliable, it

would be rash to say that the end of our ordeal is nigh. But we are surely over the worst, having kept faith with “the science”. In the medium term we can hope to enjoy simple pleasures

again, without fear of throwing away the fruits of self-denial. And in the longer term, the future for Britain burns brighter than ever. 

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