Are companies using Covid as an excuse not to function normally? | BBC Radio Solent's Alun Newman

However, dare I tread carefully into the murky waters of questioning?

It is said that to become a Ninja you have to be able to walk on rice-paper without leaving an imprint.

The same care is needed when discussing this particular issue.

Here I go.

Ninja bandana on (naturally it’s black).

Sword at the ready.

It’s the phrase ‘for the safety of our staff and customers…’

It would seem that after saying this, you can now come up with any idea that’s beyond reproach.

Let me table a couple of examples and feel free to disagree.

In my local town, we have a bank.

It’s a small-ish branch of a billion-pound business.

It’s used by lots of people.

It’s also used by my daughter, who gets paid in cash (above board) by her employer.

This ‘old-school’ way of doing things means you have to bank it manually.

Not a problem.

Until ‘for the safety of our staff and customers – we now open at 10am and close at 12pm on weekdays only’!

How is this two-hour window a good idea?

Surely this means all the people who need the bank, will be condensed into a small space of time.

You’re literally creating queues and social contact.

Not only that. If you’re a child or working adult, that’s you out of the picture. You’re at school or work.

Is this good, sensible planning or a corona-cloud of chaos?

All it seems to have done is convince my daughter that cash is generally a pain and when you can, change banks.

Here’s another one for you. This is a beauty.

Every year we buy a Christmas tree from our local garden centre.

It’s local, grown nearby and that’s better for the environment.

I appreciate the hypocrisy.

I don’t have to have a tree and I drive to collect it.

Then another machine recycles it and a lorry carries it somewhere else (all right, don’t spoil Christmas).

We mooch to the garden centre to get the tree.

We then spend six days drawing up a shortlist and finally comnit to one.

At this point you take the tree to that strange galvanised steel bucket contraption and the staff cut the bottom off (if you ask) and they ‘net’ it for you.

Well, here’s the deal.

I carry it to the guy.

We’re all masked and gelled up to within an inch of our lives.

Leave it at the drop off.

Ask (at a three-metre distance).

‘Okay to lop the bottom off’ (helps the tree drink)?

A staff member says: ‘Sorry, for the safety of our staff and customers. We’re not doing that this year. Too much puffing potential’.

I’m not joking.

In a moment of weakness I thought to myself ‘for the safety of your staff and customers. I’m not paying for it this year’.

I was cautioned as to my attitude and was required to immediately change and cheer up.

Throughout the day I pointed them out.

‘For the safety of our staff and customers. We’re closing earlier.’

This was issued by our local supermarket.

Coupled with ‘for the safety of our staff and customers, not all the self service tills are open’.

Although they were all open this afternoon.

Much I don’t understand I’m sure.

Experts, scientists and statisticians have done their best to make sense of it all.

What I do know is, if I go around at the weekend pointing this out rhen ‘for the safety of my marriage and all those involved in it, I’ll be placed on the naughty step’.

Change is coming for cars

Britain has a complex history of car-making.

We made the E-type. The Mini. The Land Rover Defender. The Range Rover. The Lotus. We also made the Austin Princess and the Allegro.

Like I said, it’s a mixed bag. We’re now in a new car technology race. It’s come down to electric cars versus hydrogen cells. Tesla, among others, already has the lead but it’s not over by a long stretch. Electric cars take ages to charge and still need whopping batteries.

With that in mind (trumpet sound), bring on the Rasa! Britain's first hydrogen-powered car.

Here are the headlines and see how you feel at the end. It’s being made on a small Welsh industrial estate. It’s a quirky small car with gull-wing doors. Light blue. It has a cruising speed of 60 mph and produces 12bhp. The range is 300 miles and takes only minutes to re-fuel. Plus, it’s far more environmentally friendly than the electric offerings.

What do you think? Go on, buy one!

There's only one place in the UK that you can actually fill up at the moment and there are far more plug sockets for the electric cars. However, in order to climb a mountain it’s always one step at a time.

Could it be that we’re going to lead the world again in new technology?

Hugo Spowers the visionary behind the project said ‘dinosaurs weren't replaced by better dinosaurs’. He’s right. He has a vision not just for different cars but open source innovation. Low cost vehicles.

So, let's get ready for change.