Mixed Messages

It gets very confusing for an old, UK-based guy like me. The messages we are getting from government about how to avoid becoming a Covid-19 casualty and to be simultaneously 'greenish' don't seem to make a great deal of sense to me (although some of individual recommendations appeal). Apparently, we are all overweight (a risk factor for many diseases including this virus) and must do something about our awful eating and drinking habits. But, we also have to get the economy moving and should be encouraged (£10 vouchers!) to frequent pubs and restaurants (even if is difficult, with the best of intentions, to eliminate transmission in such areas). It's all the fault of 'junk foods' (not really, although they are an easy target)! We will stop people being hammered with messages about these 'treats' on TV before the 9 pm 'watershed' but not until 2022! This is in spite of the fact that many people (including 'easily influenced' children) watch stored TV shows at times that suit their convenience and, anyhow, much of the advertising is online. Studies in other countries suggest that poverty has a major impact on poor eating choices. We also have to cease to be couch potatoes. One way of doing this (if you can't pay gym fees or the gyms are closed) is to get us onto bicycles (which would also be 'greener' than driving). To really encourage this, there might be more vouchers towards getting your machine fixed before venturing on to the roads. To deal with a realistic concern that the roads can be a tad dangerous for cyclists (especially for those who haven't used such machines for some years), some cycle lanes may be made permanent and other routes created. This, however, will take rather a long time (and has been locally resisted), as we start from a very low base-line (I remember cycle tracks in Lancashire being ripped up to make extra lanes for cars). Perhaps, in addition to new cycle lanes, we ought to also import another idea from the Netherlands, essentially making the cyclist a protected (from other road users) species? Knock one down at your peril! Walking is also good exercise but very little is said about that. People who would normally exercise by swimming have also found that they have been precluded from that in lockdown. Sadly, some of the pool-containing leisure centres may not re-open. Again, poverty is likely to make maintaining an exercise regime difficult. We should also get back on public transport rather than returning to our fume and micro-particle generating cars. But social isolation is difficult in this situation and being a bus driver in London seems to be currently one of the most dangerous occupations in terms of Covid-19 infections. We all, post lockdown, 'deserve' a foreign holiday (even if the evidence suggests that these played a major role in spreading the virus to all sections of the UK in the first wave). Anyhow, travel companies, airlines and ferries need respite from their current, awful economic pressures (even if they add to the 'greenhouse gas' output). Many countries have also been desperate to get the tourists back! If, however, the countries in which the holiday locations are located show a spike in Covid-19 infections (surely an inducement to hide them?), returning holiday makers are faced with 14 days of quarantine (enforced by whom?). I know that old age makes it difficult to keep up with trends and the constant hum of information but it seems to me that too many people are trying to do too many things at the same time. Help!