In the bleak midwinter
Dec. 20th, 2020 02:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolorosa_12If you live in the UK, you'll share my contempt for our current government. I didn't think I could despise them any more, but this pack of incompetents never cease to find new depths to plumb.
For those of you not aware, the UK government originally announced ridiculous plans to relax the semi-lockdown restrictions that were in place across the country, for five days on and around Christmas. They didn't relax things to a complete free-for-all, but the rules were such that up to three households could meet and celebrate Christmas indoors. They doggedly stuck to this for weeks on end, in spite of spiraling cases, catastrophic strain on the NHS, and pleas from epidemiologists not to allow it.
They were still sticking to this Christmas permissiveness as recently as Thursday, when Keir Starmer quite reasonably asked in Parliament whether this was at all sensible (at which point the government started raking him over the coals and saying things like 'Keir Starmer just wants to cancel Christmas!!!!!!!!'). Some schools in London wanted to revert to online classes for the last two days of the year, but were taken to court by the education minister and forced to stay physically open. (Of course, all these schools were in Labour council areas, and there was no attempt to sue Eton, which had also closed early.)
And then, yesterday afternoon, after leaking the news to a favoured journalist, the government did a u-turn, announced that almost all of the country would have to go into hard lockdown, travel would not be possible except for essential work or caregiving after midnight on Saturday night, and there would be no Christmas relaxation of rules after all.
People, as you can imagine, were spitting flames with fury. Many had made travel plans, organised enough food to feed largish groups, or paused regular grocery deliveries because they assumed they would be fed elsewhere. A woman on Twitter went into a panic spiral as she had planned to collect her elderly, housebound mother from Birmingham and bring her to London to celebrate Christmas; she had cancelled her mother's visits from a careworker, and the mother had no food in the house. Restaurants and cafes in the locked down areas were stuck with huge amounts of perishable food which they had expected to be able to sell this week. Even soup kitchens for homeless people were being told they would not be able to operate.
My personal feeling is that the relaxation of rules should never have been allowed in the first place. I think the government should have apologetically announced in November that Christmas celebrations would have to be limited to households and support bubbles (if vulnerable individuals were involved), travel would not be permitted except for essential work and caregiving, and that would be it. There would have been whinging and disappointment, but at least you wouldn't have been left with the disaster that's now unfolding. People got their hopes up, and are now crushed with despair. People have wasted money on food that will go uneaten, others will struggle to feed themselves, and there's utter chaos in terms of travel. Last night, all the major London railway stations were packed with people trying to get out before the midnight curfew, no doubt spreading COVID all around.
For me personally it makes no difference. I was planning to go to Australia for Christmas this year, but that obviously didn't happen (I'd decided by June that we were not going to go, and we didn't buy tickets). Normally if we don't go to Australia we would go to Germany to spend Christmas with Matthias's family, but I was cautious about that and we decided in October that wasn't a good idea (and didn't buy tickets). Germany announced Christmas restrictions a few weeks ago, so even if we had gone we would have had to quarantine and spend Christmas alone — and now all the countries in Europe are closing their borders to flights from the UK, so we wouldn't have made it anyway. So I had always been planning to spend Christmas in Cambridge with Matthias, and nothing has changed in that regard. But I feel the way the government has handled things has been unspeakably cruel and shambolic.
Cambridge is in the weird situation of being in Tier 2 restrictions (limits on groups indoors, but all shops still open and restaurants/cafes/bars open to in-person dining for household groups), but surrounded on all sides by other counties in the tough Tier 4 restrictions. Tier 2 is basically the way I've been living all year, whether it was mandated by the government or not: working from home, close to zero travel outside of Cambridge, exercise only alone and outdoors, a handful of sit-down meals in restaurants outdoors but only with Matthias — so my life is essentially unchanged. But the situation more broadly is dire.
Meanwhile, over in Australia, thanks to the monumentally selfish behaviour of a couple of people in Sydney, things are also tense. Australia basically had no cases for several months, after the tough restrictions in Victoria managed to get things under control. And then two people came back from overseas, got an exemption from the mandatory fourteen-day hotel quarantine so that they could quarantine at home and ... didn't quarantine. Instead they visited what appears to be every restaurant and cafe in the northern beaches, plus several supermarkets, public transport, and a Bing Lee hardware store ... while positive with COVID. I am livid.
It is rather surreal to watch the contrasting ways people react to things, though. Australia has closed all state borders and is catastrophising as a result of 20 cases. Meanwhile, in the UK, there are routinely 20,000 new cases per day and people just shrug.
Today is my birthday. As you can imagine, it's been a rather subdued affair — but given I'm not one for big group parties anyway, I haven't felt like I missed out on anything. Matthias and I went out for a sun-drenched walk to Grantchester (photoset here). I'm planning a nice dinner with wine and cocktails. And I'm going to spend the evening reading seasonally appropriate books: rereads of Iona Datt Sharma and Katherine Fabian's novella Sing for the Coming of the Longest Night (see my review of this book from last year; the story is basically a celebration of family in all its forms, a restoration of love and light and compassion to illuminate and banish the darkness), and Katherine Arden's Winternight trilogy. I think we could all do with stories that are about hope in the dark, kindness warming the icy heart of winter, and the fire that can be a candle flame.
My heart will not give up, my heart will not give out, my heart will not give in.
For those of you not aware, the UK government originally announced ridiculous plans to relax the semi-lockdown restrictions that were in place across the country, for five days on and around Christmas. They didn't relax things to a complete free-for-all, but the rules were such that up to three households could meet and celebrate Christmas indoors. They doggedly stuck to this for weeks on end, in spite of spiraling cases, catastrophic strain on the NHS, and pleas from epidemiologists not to allow it.
They were still sticking to this Christmas permissiveness as recently as Thursday, when Keir Starmer quite reasonably asked in Parliament whether this was at all sensible (at which point the government started raking him over the coals and saying things like 'Keir Starmer just wants to cancel Christmas!!!!!!!!'). Some schools in London wanted to revert to online classes for the last two days of the year, but were taken to court by the education minister and forced to stay physically open. (Of course, all these schools were in Labour council areas, and there was no attempt to sue Eton, which had also closed early.)
And then, yesterday afternoon, after leaking the news to a favoured journalist, the government did a u-turn, announced that almost all of the country would have to go into hard lockdown, travel would not be possible except for essential work or caregiving after midnight on Saturday night, and there would be no Christmas relaxation of rules after all.
People, as you can imagine, were spitting flames with fury. Many had made travel plans, organised enough food to feed largish groups, or paused regular grocery deliveries because they assumed they would be fed elsewhere. A woman on Twitter went into a panic spiral as she had planned to collect her elderly, housebound mother from Birmingham and bring her to London to celebrate Christmas; she had cancelled her mother's visits from a careworker, and the mother had no food in the house. Restaurants and cafes in the locked down areas were stuck with huge amounts of perishable food which they had expected to be able to sell this week. Even soup kitchens for homeless people were being told they would not be able to operate.
My personal feeling is that the relaxation of rules should never have been allowed in the first place. I think the government should have apologetically announced in November that Christmas celebrations would have to be limited to households and support bubbles (if vulnerable individuals were involved), travel would not be permitted except for essential work and caregiving, and that would be it. There would have been whinging and disappointment, but at least you wouldn't have been left with the disaster that's now unfolding. People got their hopes up, and are now crushed with despair. People have wasted money on food that will go uneaten, others will struggle to feed themselves, and there's utter chaos in terms of travel. Last night, all the major London railway stations were packed with people trying to get out before the midnight curfew, no doubt spreading COVID all around.
For me personally it makes no difference. I was planning to go to Australia for Christmas this year, but that obviously didn't happen (I'd decided by June that we were not going to go, and we didn't buy tickets). Normally if we don't go to Australia we would go to Germany to spend Christmas with Matthias's family, but I was cautious about that and we decided in October that wasn't a good idea (and didn't buy tickets). Germany announced Christmas restrictions a few weeks ago, so even if we had gone we would have had to quarantine and spend Christmas alone — and now all the countries in Europe are closing their borders to flights from the UK, so we wouldn't have made it anyway. So I had always been planning to spend Christmas in Cambridge with Matthias, and nothing has changed in that regard. But I feel the way the government has handled things has been unspeakably cruel and shambolic.
Cambridge is in the weird situation of being in Tier 2 restrictions (limits on groups indoors, but all shops still open and restaurants/cafes/bars open to in-person dining for household groups), but surrounded on all sides by other counties in the tough Tier 4 restrictions. Tier 2 is basically the way I've been living all year, whether it was mandated by the government or not: working from home, close to zero travel outside of Cambridge, exercise only alone and outdoors, a handful of sit-down meals in restaurants outdoors but only with Matthias — so my life is essentially unchanged. But the situation more broadly is dire.
Meanwhile, over in Australia, thanks to the monumentally selfish behaviour of a couple of people in Sydney, things are also tense. Australia basically had no cases for several months, after the tough restrictions in Victoria managed to get things under control. And then two people came back from overseas, got an exemption from the mandatory fourteen-day hotel quarantine so that they could quarantine at home and ... didn't quarantine. Instead they visited what appears to be every restaurant and cafe in the northern beaches, plus several supermarkets, public transport, and a Bing Lee hardware store ... while positive with COVID. I am livid.
It is rather surreal to watch the contrasting ways people react to things, though. Australia has closed all state borders and is catastrophising as a result of 20 cases. Meanwhile, in the UK, there are routinely 20,000 new cases per day and people just shrug.
Today is my birthday. As you can imagine, it's been a rather subdued affair — but given I'm not one for big group parties anyway, I haven't felt like I missed out on anything. Matthias and I went out for a sun-drenched walk to Grantchester (photoset here). I'm planning a nice dinner with wine and cocktails. And I'm going to spend the evening reading seasonally appropriate books: rereads of Iona Datt Sharma and Katherine Fabian's novella Sing for the Coming of the Longest Night (see my review of this book from last year; the story is basically a celebration of family in all its forms, a restoration of love and light and compassion to illuminate and banish the darkness), and Katherine Arden's Winternight trilogy. I think we could all do with stories that are about hope in the dark, kindness warming the icy heart of winter, and the fire that can be a candle flame.
My heart will not give up, my heart will not give out, my heart will not give in.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-21 09:44 am (UTC)Thank you for the birthday wishes.
The Dark Is Rising is one of my seasonal rereads at this time of year, too. I hope you and your kids are enjoying it! I used to love that Will Stanton and I basically shared a birthday.