Good evening So how was Freedom Day for you? Did you rush out at midnight with your dancing shoes on to the nearest nightclub, throw all those single-use masks you’ve been using more than once into the bin and mingle six-deep at the bar for a pint of something chilled? Or did you, like most of us, listen to the news with increasing worry? On the one hand it is good to know that some of the restrictions which have dogged our lives for 16 months have been removed. But on the other, what good is that if we are going to see a massive increase in cases, a small proportion of which will end up in critical care? And the growing number of often young people suffering from Long Covid means that no-one is truly safe. How much can we enjoy Freedom Day in the knowledge that if hospital admissions continue to rise, the NHS will not be able to cope and we will all be locked down again? Perhaps the only way we can enjoy the extra freedoms we have been given is if we use good judgement and resolve to be cautious in our approach to the outside world. Until next time, take care, Gillian Drop me a line at gillian.parkinson@jpimedia.co.uk with your views and please subscribe to support sustainable local journalism in your community. Click here to view our offers. Here are some of today's top stories ... |