So after nearly two years of mayhem, we’re back to where we started. Yes, we do have a vaccine, but it is one that works only by limiting serious illness in the most vulnerable after three jabs. It’s fascinating how the vaccine narrative has shifted from the heady euphoria of the first jab to the insistence that the booster is now (after two shots) our best chance of salvation.

You can start to understand how the anti-vaccination gang might have had a point.

England currently has no COVID restrictions, whereas Scotland and Wales have shut up shop but with no barriers to movement.

So should we reach for an ouija board to solicit Einstein’s interpretation of what will happen next? I’ll have a cheeky stab myself. Herds of Welsh and Scots are crossing the borders to enjoy evenings out, after which they are trotting back into their own communities. I think we know the rest.

Of course, nobody will be able to prove what the impact of this will be, because there are no lateral flow tests and no PCR tests available. That’s as convenient as it first appears incompetent.

I’ve not felt as sad since the £38bn investment in NHS Track and Trace was allowed to evaporate into the ether (the cash and the end product). Notwithstanding the unbridled corruption, public venues stopped plugging that pantomime around the same time that everybody either uninstalled the app or switched off Bluetooth. Non-compliance started way before Johnson’s cheesy wining was exposed.

The whole response has been a catastrophic waste of resources and potential, that should be the principal source of sadness for us all.

We should also reserve particular thanks for our opposition parties for voting all the half-backed, hip-shot, preposterous plans through.

Chapeau.

Had the Government simply mandated isolation for the most vulnerable and spent the barrow loads of cash at our disposal on ratcheting up some world-beating support for them, we’d be on fire instead of going up in flames.

Happy New Year.

*parp*