When Boris Johnson announced that unlocking would be guided by ‘data not dates’ he handed detractors ample scope for derision and defiance. In the four months since, lockdown critics have rightly insisted that he uphold the slogan and accelerate a roadmap, designed to move at such a glacial speed, that it risked fraying the DNA of our economy and permanently crushing our joie de vivre.
Why did we spend Easter isolated from loved ones? April in wintry beer gardens? Why did we roll out the vaccine at phenomenal pace only to keep restrictions in place as the number of Covid deaths hit single digits?
Contrary to expectation, however, that mantra was probably a good hill to die on. Denouncing Boris Johnson’s decision to rubber-stamp the roadmap delay and pencil in 19 July as our new ‘Freedom Day’ is awkward now that the top-line stats are so unnerving. 7,000 infections on consecutive days for the first time since late February.
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