Two jabs were the exit strategy, not Covid passports & two weekly negative tests

Test of patience

IT seemed simple: Two jabs and we were done. Normal life could return.

A grateful nation could shower the vaccines’ inventors with prizes and rebuild our lives and the economy. That was the ­Government line too. But not now.

Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updates…

Now Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock insist we must self-test for Covid twice a week in our own homes. No matter that 31million have been jabbed once and 5.4million twice. No matter that the vaccines are reportedly 100 per cent ­effective against severe illness or death.

Still we are told we must fear the variants, fear spreading the disease.

The Health Secretary says “reclaiming our lost freedoms and getting back to normal hinges on us all getting tested regularly”. Really? Since when? Three months ago he was happy to reopen the economy once enough ­vulnerable people were jabbed. “Cry freedom!” he said. What changed?

Let’s be realistic. Who among us, after one jab let alone two, wants the unpleasantness of twice-weekly tests unless compelled to by, say, actual Covid symptoms? Who wants to risk a false positive putting their life needlessly on hold for a fortnight?

The Government insists its snail’s-paced “roadmap” to freedom can NEVER change even as our situation improves far faster than predicted. But it happily then shifts the goalposts.

Two jabs were the exit strategy. Not two jabs, Covid passports and two negative tests a week. And if this mass home-testing adds thousands to the daily infection toll, what then? More restrictions, even with almost all of us vaccinated?

This way lies madness and ruin, PM.

Abuse fiasco

SO much for taking back control.

How can the Rochdale grooming gang, already stripped of UK citizenship, still be walking our streets nine years after the crimes that shocked Britain?

“Where is the justice?” asks their main victim, Girl A. “The Government needs to come clean about why these men have not been deported.” We agree.

The Home Office is apparently reviewing the case. Why? These vile men were told in 2015 they would be booted back to Pakistan. It is shameful it has not happened.

Home Secretary Priti Patel vows she will rapidly deport foreign criminals with no right to remain.

So expel these monsters now, Priti, or you’ll have fallen at the first hurdle.

Ale and hearty

CHEERS, Boris! Outdoor boozing from next week is a mouth-watering prospect.

Even if it did snow in parts yesterday. A chilly pint is better than none. And how better to harden up for a summer fortnight at a rain-lashed UK campsite?

The way things are going with foreign hols, Blighty is where most of us will end up.