Don’t ever think we’re all in this Covid crisis together, because we’re not – Simon Carter

How much stranger, how much weirder, can 2020 actually get?

I don’t know about you, but my mental health entering the second lockdown is totally different to how it was back in mid-March when we entered the first one; back then, it was spring, the sun was shining, and there was a feeling - however brief - of ‘we’re all in this together’. Work-wise, all of my staff (bar one) had been furloughed, and there was no sport being played, but never mind ... mentally, I was in a good place. Bring it on!

But that was then, and this is now - and now there is a stark difference. Months of working flat out has taken its toll. My staff aren’t back from furlough yet and I’m not expecting to see them for weeks. I appreciate I have been lucky to carry on working throughout our inept Government’s miserable handling of the pandemic; my heart goes out to those who have been on furlough since March or, like my partner, those who have been made redundant.

I’ve been working on my own in the office since the end of March, and I’m missing the day-to-day interaction with my friends. Journalists are social animals - it’s the nature of our jobs - and to think I could still be working on my own by the end of next March fills me with dread.

Possibly worse of all, though, is knowing that we are NOT all in this together. That feeling evaporated the day Dominic Cummings decided to flout lockdown rules and go for a drive, with our incompetent Prime Minister refusing to criticise him. That was the day, for many, lockdown ended.

Remember the Scottish MP Margaret Ferrier? She was the one who took public transport knowing she had tested positive for Covid-19. Was she fined? Of course not, because there’s one rule for us and one rule for the elite. If you didn’t think that was the case prior to the pandemic, surely you do now?

We weren’t really all in it together at the very start, though, were we? If we had been, the Covidiots wouldn’t have been stockpiling toilet rolls and medicines. And if we weren’t in it together in March, we’re miles apart now.

It’s incredible how many people have been fined £10,000 for breaking lockdown rules in recent weeks. A quick Google search provided evidence of illegal parties all over the country - Manchester, Nottingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Norwich, London, Birmingham, Devizes. Different areas, with different tier restrictions for Covid but all tier 3, the highest possible level, for stupidity.

The stupidest of the stupid award, however, goes to the owner of a Bristol events venue who was given a £10,000 fine for facilitating a gathering in breach of Covid-19 regulations - less than a week after the same person was hit with a £1,000 fine for operating past the 10pm curfew.

You couldn’t make this stuff up, could you? If it wasn’t so serious, it would be laughable. And yet this is why we’re in a second lockdown, with all the horrendous harm it will cause to the economy and people’s mental health, because so many people in this country are arrogant, believing themselves to be above the law.

Too many people in this country do what they hell they want, without thinking of the effect their actions will have on others. Dominic Cummings is one of those, and if people see him getting away with it then they will try and do the same.

We are not a subservient nation as a whole. If there is a way to bend the rule, a lot of Joe Public will look to do it. For all those who have tried to stick to the lockdown restrictions, how are you feeling today knowing there’s so many people out there who simply couldn’t care less?

How are you feeling today knowing that after almost eight months of your sacrifices, of not seeing family and friends, you’re still not living properly, you’re existing - and that’s nowhere near the same thing?

It’s bloody hard, isn’t it? And it’s not getting any easier. I have no faith in our politicians to ease our nation’s pain, none at all, and when I read about large groups ignoring restrictions I have no faith that this second lockdown will be the last either.

And that makes me feel a whole lot worse than I already do ...