When lockdown was first introduced back in March 2020, we were told it was “Three weeks to flatten the curve and save the NHS.” Never has there been a longer three weeks!

I was personally in favour of the first lockdown. I felt that there was a very high risk from a new virus running amok and we should all err on the side of caution. I wore a face mask and even wore gloves whilst strictly adhering to all government guidance.

I never believed we should just “let it rip” as Matt Hancock crudely characterised the views of lockdown sceptics. At times of serious national crisis, it is absolutely right that we should all pull together and work for the common good.

Since then, we have learnt a great deal about “the pandemic”. It is abundantly clear that the virus exists and becoming ever more apparent that it probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. We have also learnt far more about how the virus works and who is at most risk.

The initial fear of catching the virus through infected surfaces seems to have been massively overblown and the CDC in America now put the chances of that at somewhere near one in then thousand.

It is also clear that the survival rate for the virus is huge with overall about 99.97% of those who catch it recovering. The significant danger is to the elderly, those with certain chronic illnesses and the very obese.

We have also learnt a great deal about the effects of lockdown policy and its lack of effectiveness at stopping the spread of the virus. It is now broadly accepted that there is very little evidence that lockdowns actually work and they are used more under a precautionary principle.

This precautionary measure has had a devastating effect on our economy and way of life. Huge numbers of people are suffering from serious mental health issues whilst many more have serious life-threatening illnesses that have gone untreated whilst the nation has obsessed over the virus.

On top of this in the principle of “never let a good crisis go waste” our government has side-lined parliament and brought in hugely authoritarian measures all in the name of keeping us safe. The right to protest is under attack, the right to gather together and talk has been made virtually illegal and most chilling of all medical apartheid in the shape of vaccine passports looks to be a major target for the powers that be.

Thousands of viable businesses have been destroyed and hundreds of thousands of jobs lost. Many other hundreds of thousands have been kept on the ludicrously expensive furlough scheme and effectively bribed to not work and not question what is going on at an astronomical cost

Our leaders have told us that the vaccination roll out is a great triumph for this country. They tell us that by jabbing millions of people they are pathing the path back to freedom. Yet this does not add up when you realise that vaccinated people are still expected to wear masks and social distance and are told not to believe they are exempt of the crackdown on liberty.