'Why it is wonderful to take the first steps back to normality...'

A watershed moment arrived on Tuesday this week when Prime Minister Boris Johnson signalled the biggest single step yet towards a return to ‘normality’ for the country - even the opposition endorsed it, despite the union as a whole not being unified in lockdown stipulations.

Fascinatingly, BoJo’s Commons announcement was made on the 23rd of June - precisely three months since lockdown began...

It is, of course, wonderful news. Businesses across the nation were gasping for breath and a colossal number of jobs hung in the balance as a result. The prospect of staycational summer holidays is with us once more and it hasn’t taken a Trumpesque wrangling of state laws to encourage people to spend their cash within the UK economy.

For some the news about retail and trade isn’t yet as positive as it now is for others though – your gym membership may still have some way to go before you can exploit it and theatres and performance venues are a long way off being able to viably reopen their doors. But we do now have the prospect of some semblance of normality to indulge in.

Will we though?

Almost as soon as the words were out of Boris’s mouth, various former government advisers, politicians and scientists leapt out to criticise the relaxations announced.

Tuesday saw statistics being bandied about – while many miles away, just as in China, Germany was reintroducing lockdown on a regionalised basis after a new outbreak of Covid-19.

Even in this county the disease proved its ability to surge, the controversy surrounding Kettering Hospital and the 36 cases of coronavirus at Cheaney Court care home in Desborough telling its own grim tale. I hope that Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s assertion on Monday that “the virus is in retreat” doesn’t end up coming back to bite him as “the virus is regrouping”.

Some have said that with the arrival of shorter autumnal days, longer nights and substantial drops in temperatures after whatever heatwaves the summer provides, we should anticipate and prepare for a resurgence of C-19. It might be crass to suggest that with this week’s weather we should expect to see an increase in the levels of coronavirus infection – but regardless of the rules there will surely be those who go their own way, demonstrating a devil-may-care arrogance.

I salute retailers now labouring hard to re-establish themselves and their businesses – we’re talking about survival here. The hospitality sector in particular is now facing not only the challenge of encouraging people back through the door, but to do so on significantly reduced profit margins and increased costs from having to make Covid-compliant arrangements like Perspex screens, temperature sensing camera technologies and, of course, stock which will have risen in price too. In the long term the consumer will pay – but it may be a very long-term cycle which awaits.

In the meantime, for those who remain locked away – or shielding for now – the issue of loneliness is an absolute reality. This week the British Red Cross published a new report which has found that since March 23, 41% of adults have felt more lonely, 31% feel they have nobody to turn to and that over 25% feel nobody would notice if anything adverse were to happen to them.

The Red Cross is calling for government support through health and social care systems to support those most at risk. As the lockdown lifts – perhaps only for the time being – maybe in our newly reacquainted freedoms we should be spending a little time checking on neighbours.

Do for others as you would have done for you?