Those respectable disguises

On the long list of those respectable disguises under which we assert our own importance, or gratify our own love of meddling in our neighbour’s affairs, a moral regard for the welfare of others figures in the foremost place, and stands deservedly as number one.

Wilkie Collins – Man and Wife (1870)

That’s a few jobs done, evening meal finished and dishwasher chugging away. Time to scan the headlines, but great heavens what have we here? The coronavirus mess is in the news again!

A striking feature of the coronavirus debacle is how the UK government and the media have used it to swamp our attention. A related and equally striking feature is how the swamping has been accepted.

Yet we might suppose that our attention is a most private matter, a key aspect of our personal world, our personal space and the importance we attach to all manner of encounters. All that has changed and as things are, seems likely to have changed forever.