The public has kept its side of the lockdown bargain. Now it’s the government’s turn

Over the past week, the country has started to spring back to life. Trains and buses are no longer running empty. Bars and restaurants have put out signs proclaiming they are fully booked. Pubs are using school playgrounds as beer gardens and filling every seat. In Soho, people danced in the streets when someone walked through with a stereo. A country that has been locked down for months is finally coming back into the open, with not a penny of government bribery required.

There is a palpable sense of both relief and accomplishment. Yet the recent noises from No. 10 have been far from positive. The Prime Minister has claimed, oddly, that the decline in Covid cases has almost everything to do with lockdown and very little to do with vaccination. He has also insisted that reopening society will inevitably result in more illness and death.

Perspective is needed: our approach to the pandemic has always been about the balance of risk.