Did we lock those gates ourselves?

Full lockdown in the UK starts today so we’re back to the dark days of March last year.

But with major differences. Today the infection rates and the death figures are far worse than they were then, and will worsen when the time-lagged statistics include those who flouted the rules at Christmas and New Year.

And yes, I’m aware the vaccines have arrived

Early last year we were under the cosh but there was a sense of communal purpose. For one thing the NHS was struggling to come to terms with this new menace and NHS employees were dying in their droves. (Many with names that suggested they were not born in the UK; a slap in the face for those who supported Brexit on an anti-immigration basis).

At a set time we emerged on our door-steps and solemnly clapped those whose sense of duty had taken them into oblivion. I’m not sure this will happen again.

Politicians desperate to avoid making unpleasant but necessary decisions have blurred that sense of unity. More people have ignored guidance with predictable results and the medical aftermath from those who joined their relations during the festive season is yet to be gauged.

Yes, the vaccines will save lives but this will take time. During which maskless, unjabbed people will assemble in amorphous and vulnerable blobs, fair game for that oh-so-clever virus. Blobs often with the best of motives, like those hugging each other after the Assange extradition decision.

Flirting with and/or committing suicide are personal decisions. Imposing that related death on others is not. In the USA, I believe, such an assault is called “wilful homicide”.

And then there are those – grabbing at the latest conspiracy theory – who will refuse their jabs. Human beings are so damn complicated.