Freedom D(el)ay

So, Boris is set to delay "Freedom Day" by another four weeks. Frankly, that's a good thing - we're getting there, but the fact is that the group most likely to go out and mingle are also the group who are still unvaccinated. Far better to wait a few more weeks, vaccinate that last group, and then call it done. It's a frustrating delay, but it's the right thing to do.

That said, the reasons this delay is needed are frankly inexcusable. There are three very obvious lessons from the last year that our government have singularly failed to learn:

1. We live on an island. (That is, GB specifically. Different considerations apply to Northern Ireland, not to mention the other islands that make up the UK.) That means that we have control of our borders that other countries don't enjoy. For goodness sake, close the borders early!
2. If you think you might need to tighten restrictions, or delay relaxing them, you absolutely should have done so several days ago.
3. Every day you delay in taking the necessary steps makes the inevitable pain worse - in terms of lives lost, in terms of the economy, in terms of people's mental health, and in every other way. Get on with it!

And so, once again, we get to a point where it's obvious a delay is needed, we've all known it was coming for about a week, and still the government dithers. And this after the government dithered over adding India to the red list.

I really wish I believed that there would be a reckoning for this. Our government are manifestly incompetent; it would be nice to think they would be replaced in short order.