As England enters it’s third full lockdown, Westside BID general manager MIKE OLLEY calls for severe punishment for those who break the law. But he also underlines that the hospitality sector is not to blame.
It’s an absolute outrage that this new strain of the mutated COVID-19 virus is spreading so quickly. But I find it difficult to understand why this is. After all, all those nasty nightclubs, sordid strip joints, calamitous casinos and late-night venues have been shut down for some time now, some since March 2020. Therefore, how on earth has this happened?
Just how has the hospitality sector managed to spread the virus whilst all closed up and denied the capacity to sell an honest beer or two? I think the government needs to come clean on this. Please explain to the great British public how the virus is upon us again despite the hospitality sector being locked down for so many months.
For clarity, the virus certainly hasn’t gone away, not in the UK or anywhere else really. But how bad is this pandemic, and how well are the government dealing with matters? Well, it’s not the government who is spreading the virus. Sure, they may be making some bad decisions, like closing the hospitality sector, when we happen to know how to behave and serve the public safely. But it’s people who spread the virus, by behaving like fools.
Everyone’s behaviour should be simple: wear a mask, keep out of other people’s houses, and keep your distance. Above all, stop fibbing about how good you are. Just accept the advice and stop, for heaven’s sake, being so clever by tripping the government up. Yes, of course there are holes, but substantially its sound advice: keep away from people outside your household.
The fools who spread this virus in Britain have created the worst economic slump of any European nation, and that is frightening in the long-term. I know not fully why Britain has failed so badly on death rates and the economy. But I am concerned that Oxfam estimates the cost of the virus to the planet earth to be around $12 trillion.
Set that against the CIA (yes, the USA’s global secret squirrel network) estimate of there being a total of $128 trillion in the planet and gosh, this is a very hefty bill indeed. Plus, it isn’t over yet, so maybe let’s look at $20 trillion, or even higher, when all said and done.
Yes, I could also be outraged and solidly confused that even with the hospitality sector closed down for months we are still shelling out so much money. For clarity, and for anyone out there who has an irony bypass in their delicate, snowdrop-like constitutions, I am of course being ironic. But I’m also fed up with lines such as “follow the science”, “turn the tide” and “lets send coronavirus packing”. They are all hollow rhetoric and in their historic settings glow as such like beacons of nonsense.
Instead, let’s be practical, let’s get real, and let’s get serious about the idiots who flout good regulations. Let’s fine the idiots who organise house parties, hit them with a £10,000 fine and each participant with an extra £80 penalty. Let’s get this under control by the simple and straightforward measures of keeping our distance, washing our hands and just behaving ourselves.
Let’s deliver crippling blows to the pockets of those agents of death who feel it’s beyond them to behave. Or, and I hate to say this, let’s slap them in gaol for a decent term to reflect on the fact they are a menace to society.
Yet, for heaven’s sake, let’s please start leaving hospitality alone, for they are on the side of the angels, they are well-regulated and know how to run a decent house. And the sooner they are reopened, the better behaved the wider public will be.
