The day when Michael Gove said

One  Saturday evening sitting at the end of a row in the stalls of the Garrick Theatre in London, Michael Gove arrived to take his seat as the curtain rose on the National Theatre production of “This House”. He could not know that three years later the new Johnson government would find itself dependent on the refusal of the leader of the Liberal Democrats to help install Jeremy Corbyn as an interim Prime Minister to ensure a Brexit compromise.

Within weeks Mr Gove became a senior member of a government with the opportunity to do what and when it wished, subject only to the rules of our Parliamentary democracy.

Then on the day before Britain formally left the European Economic Community, the World Health Organisation announced that countries needed to urgently address the potential impact of what was a matter of days later to be known as the Novel SARS 2 COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier today on the third significant Andrew Marr programme on successive Sundays, Mr Gove disclosed that it had been necessary to issue an ultimatum to European Commission negotiating team that it must renegotiate the arrangements for fishing in British coastal waters. Without doing so the British government  will lose all credibility among the voters who have provided its present authority and power.

Unfortunately for the government, and fortunately for the Opposition Political Parties, a greater test of will and nerve has been self-created by the arch risk taking team of Johnson and Cummings in persuading British teachers to begin to increase the number of children attending schools from June 1^st, continuing to do so until the commencement of the formal school holidays when there will be more time to organise the new normal  in September.

It was during a persistent questioning by Andrew Marr that Michael Gove became the first Government or Opposition leader to admit that the only way to remove all risk of contracting the virus is to stay in complete lock in at home, where I am in my  66th day. 

Nationally and internationally a form of lock in became necessary to prevent the escalation of the killer virus beyond political control and I shall be writing separately  about the need for this in the right way and time, and the necessity for national and international comparative inquisitions of what happened to learn how to cope better when the next pandemic occurs.

As the Secretary of State for Health said recently this is not the occasion for who to blame but how we can all work together to fix it.

In a situation where an effective vaccination to prevent death may not be created, or become available until sometime in 2021, after the most likely period for a second runaway spread which is already happening in some countries beyond the wealthiest members of the groups of seven and the twenty,  continuation of universal lockdowns is no longer desirable or practical.

In the meantime, it is necessary, as it has been for many already, to set aside immediate personal welfare and that families, in the interests of the majority. The responsibility of government is to limit the individual risks as far as possible but if good government in any democracy is to survive then many must volunteer to do their duty, irrespective of the personal risk.

Those like me shut away at home in safety, of sound mind if not of limb, and in a position to have food and medication delivered  to our door, have also a part to play.  First not to put anyway else at greater risk and danger. Secondly, to reduce the likely severity of the virus if at some point there is need to do go out and the virus is contracted.

Seven years ago, I put on weight which put me well over the body mass index of 40 which places one in the clinically extremely vulnerable category and  falling within the scope of those where legislation enables government to enforce self-shielding for as long as becomes necessary.

The outcome of self-indulgence and a lack of self-discipline was that a life-long respiratory problem, where before leaving primary school, I persuaded my care mother to take me home from hospital just before my adenoids and tonsils were removed, became worse, and I needed to use a CPAP machine (Continuous Positive Airways Pressure) every night when I sleep. I also developed uncomplicated Diabetes.

I did reduce my weight by nearly three stone and twice, the last occasion in November, I came close to  breaking through the mental barrier of going even lower. My first reaction on working out in early March that the odds of survival if contracting the virus were poor, at best 50 50, was to eat chocolate, cakes and other goodies with the inevitable consequence of quickly moving further away from the self-imposed barrier and it then was a struggle to go into reverse.  I then had to remember what had also been achieved during the past five years.

One evening when at this desk I developed excruciating back pain and later managed to get myself upstairs to bed. The following  morning, I could not get myself up eventually getting on to the floor and getting myself up remembering what I had seen when attending a swimming event at the Paralympics in London in 2012. Moved at the time, and still inspired by the  courage of the young athletes without a limb or restricted to a wheel chair getting themselves in and out pool before taking the risk of finishing last, I thought if they managed so can I.

It was easier than done, especially when after the  difficult to cope pain left, radiating pain into my thighs  restricted mobility and the  basics of looking after myself personal independence became threatened. A specialist warned that with my age and weight I would be able  function most days, but some might be found  difficult. I followed the exercises recommended by a physiotherapist daily, continued to make family visit car journeys and to organise train travel for visits to Croydon and central London and  then one morning after using a bed frame to get out of bed and stand up I discovered the radiating pain  had  disappeared.

It has come back on two occasions, once for a week, and once just for two days.  On both occasions I did not panic and remembered to do what I did before. Getting my weight down to appropriate for my height  proved a goal beyond me until watching what can happen if the virus becomes severe. Today it is a matter of when i  can look again at my  body with pride.