Sunday, 17 May 2020

Gardening Leave?

Torsten Bell has got it exactly right in pointing out that a major factor profoundly altering individual experience of Covid-19 lockdown in the UK, is whether one has or does not have access to a garden  (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/17/in-lockdown-gardens-have-become-the-new-great-social-divide). Having access to a garden is a 'luxury' that many people from poorer backgrounds do not have (and London and Scotland are two of the areas of the UK with the highest incidence of gardenless folk). This surely accounts for an increased popularity of parks in some urban areas (but, although sun-bathing was banned in parks, it is certainly possible in a private garden). He also points out that social distancing may be very difficult to maintain in some parks (e.g. Clapham Common), which are the nearest free space to a myriad of people without their own garden.

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