Fry freedom
WHETHER it’s our newly regained freedom to have friends over for a barbecue or vaccine jabs sailing past the 30million barrier, this is a moment to savour.
If hospitalisations and deaths from the virus continue to ebb, perhaps Boris Johnson can even be persuaded to accelerate his cautious timetable.
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For that to happen, though, we cannot afford to be complacent, even amid the euphoria of a long-awaited rendezvous.
You don’t need to be a party pooper to remember Covid-19 has a nasty habit of pulling the rug from under plans.
So do keep the rules in mind and don’t push your luck by giving your pal a hug after a few catch-up bevvies — no matter how brilliantly they grill the burgers.
Longest year
LOCKDOWN has been a nerve-fraying trial for many families home-schooling youngsters.
But parents of children with special needs have faced even greater challenges.
It is hardly surprising that four fifths of parents with disabled children are at breaking point, and heartbreaking that half of those kids have not seen a single friend during lockdown — even online.
When looking at how to help children bounce back from the pandemic, this group must be at the front of the queue.
Heeding our Give It Back campaign to restore £434million in funding for vital care and equipment that was shamefully cut would be a useful start by ministers.
Tweet and sour
SOCIAL media, at its best, enables people across the world to exchange ideas.
More often it merely enables morons across the world to exchange insults.
So we welcome Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden’s bid to force tech giants — via the threat of swingeing fines — to tackle the cesspit’s worst excesses.
There are few easy answers here.
Stripping all users of anonymity, for example, could stifle the voices of those oppressed by despotic regimes.
But as the toxic status quo shows, simply hoping for trolls to show some humanity won’t work.
The clue’s in the name.
Be a sport
WE’VE broadly fallen into two categories during lockdown.
In one camp are those who honed their body to peak fitness, barely missing a Joe Wicks class along the way.
In the other camp are those of us who prioritised more cerebral goals, such as “completing” Netflix.
So the “Great British summer of sport” heralded by the PM yesterday offers a timely chance for us all to pull up our socks for a healthy dose of fun.
That’s true whether your body is a temple . . . or a crumbling, vine-infested ruin.
