May we all live in uninteresting times from now on | Matt Mohan-Hickson

According to legend it is an old Chinese curse, but as much as I would like that to be the truth – in reality there is no evidence for that.

But whatever the true origins, it is a phrase I have had on my mind a lot throughout the last 12 months.

Since I was brought into this world in a hotel in the city of Kuching, Malaysia, in September 1993, it has certainly been ‘interesting times’. A year prior Francis Fukuyama had declared the ‘end of history’ – but it hasn’t felt that way.

Since then there has been the millennium, all the angst about Y2K, 9/11, the war in Iraq, 7/7, the great recession, austerity and now coronavirus.

You could say that these last 27 years couldn’t have been any more interesting - aside from if an alien spaceship flew down and planted a giant flag down in London or New York or Tokyo.

Although there is still plenty of time for that.

It is weird to think that the events we have lived through – over the last year in particular – will one day end up being questions on history exams.

People will write theses and books about the lockdowns in years, decades even centuries to come.

But unfortunately the simple fact of this being a memorable era means that turmoil has been baked into it.

Hopefully for the rest of our days, however long they may be, we will end up being nothing but historical footnotes.

Utterly uninteresting times that teachers – or our alien colonisers – will flick past in order to get back to the juicy stuff. Because I have certainly had my fill of living through ‘unprecedented’ times.

In fact I would be perfectly happy for things to be totally precedented for at least a decade or two – an era of calm and stability.

After Augustus there came the Pax Romana, an era of peace and prosperity, perhaps the world has earned a new Pax NoCovid – not the snappiest of titles.

But whatever comes next, once this pandemic is firmly in the rear view, may we all live in uninteresting times.

At least in the eyes of our future historians.

Lessons I have learned from a year in lockdown

It has been a year since the first lockdown now and I have been taking stock of it all.

Reorganising my thoughts, lining the mental shelves up properly and dusting down the memories.

There was the fear at first, I remember an early Saturday where I simply couldn’t get out of bed all day - I was so full of fear.

But there was also the hope and a feeling of pride as it felt as if the whole country was pulling together - especially in the early days of the clap for carers, before it became routine.

Then came the monotony as time crumbled to pieces and the days all melted into one.

Which was swiftly followed by a bit of paranoia, as I became suspicious of my housemates breaking rules. Suspicions that ended up being confirmed, to my disappointment.

But mostly, I learned that there is no point in taking life for granted. I should make more effort to see my family and my closest friends, because a year with only fleeting glimpses has been rough.

Why is AstraZeneca getting such a bad name

The fact that we have so many viable vaccines just over a year since the Covid outbreak began is a major miracle.

Obviously since the world and all its brightest minds have been focused on stopping the pandemic, it is not that much a surprise.

But still, we should take a moment to appreciate the achievement - after all more than 800,000 people had the jab in the UK alone on Sunday, less than 12 months after the first lockdown came into force.

And so I have found it so utterly infuriating to see the AstraZeneca Oxford vaccine being trashed so publicly in recent months - especially since it is the most affordable one.

There were the claims in the German press that it basically didn’t work in older people - which turned out to be utter nonsense.

Then last week there came the scare stories about blood clots, despite no firm link and sparking European countries to stop using it for a couple of days. Again damaging its reputation.

This is the vaccine that is likely going to be most widely used, especially in poorer nations and yet the reputation is tarnished.

It could feed anti-vax sentiments around the globe and put lives at risk.

It truly feels like an utterly foolish game.