THE WiFi Woodstock, lack of anyone in charge of the government and the need now, more than ever, to stick to the lockdown rules, were debated by columnists in the papers.

The Daily Mail

Jan Moir reviewed the One World: Together at Home ‘concert’ staged by many of the biggest names in music at the weekend.

“This WiFi Woodstock featured dozens of stars providing a tonic for the troops and an opportunity to raise money as they performed from the comfort of their own homes,” she said.

“Efforts ranged from homespun sofa songs to high production numbers, one of the most impressive featuring Keith Urban in his music barn, accompanied by another two virtual Keith Urbans. “

She said Sir Tom Jones - singing The Glory of Love in front of a picture of the Pontypridd street where he grew up - provided ‘the most emotionally real moment of the entire broadcast.’

“John Legend was broadcasting live in front of his award shelves, groaning with Grammys and other gongs,” she added “He managed ten minutes of music before being joined by his irritating, attention-seeking supermodel wife Chrissy Teigen, wrapped in a bath towel and holding a glass of wine.

“’She is drinking rose,’ ventured Legend, who sells his own range of wines. ‘I won’t plug my own brand because it feels inappropriate at the moment, but you know what brand it is.’ Is there no end to his selflessness and altruism?”

She found the glimpse at the choice of soft furnishings of the celebrities the most entertaining.

“ Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were deep into the baronial country squire vibe – was that even a quill in front of Keith? – while Charlie Watts had to pretend to play drums next to a padded Victorian settle. Gentlemen rockers every one. Who would have thought it?”

The Guardian

Simon Jenkins asked who was running the government’s response to the pandemic because he said the country needed a Prime Minister ‘badly.’

“At first, Johnson didn’t take Covid-19 seriously, then he changed his mind and his advisers – and put himself in charge. Then he got ill and vanished,” he said.

“Since then, a stage army of second-rate ministers, with a media alternately cheering and jeering, seemed in thrall to one man, Neil Ferguson of Imperial College, whose record of modelling of past epidemics has been criticised.”

He said that across Europe, shops and public places are starting to cautiously reopen as death rates being to plateau.

“Not in Britain,” he said. “No one is in charge. The health secretary, Matt Hancock, is a serial promiser rather than deliverer. He is like a signalman with his wires cut. The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is clearly not senior enough to win the case for relaxation. The stand-in prime minister, Dominic Raab, intones slogans about “protecting the NHS”.”

He said the NHS was ‘showered with beds and praise, while its workers were left at home, untested.’

“Local government, which everywhere else in Europe seems to be deeply involved this emergency, was simply ignored,” he added. “Equipment was not supplied, money was not spent. In this emergency, morale is a function of competent government. After Covid-19, never again can Britain boast to the world the quality of its healthcare.”

The Scotsman

Karen McCluskey warned that tempers would fray and tolerances shorten as lockdown was extended for another three weeks.

On social media, she said, there is finger pointing about neighbours having parties, people sunbathing in parks and overzealous policing.

“There is plenty of division as well as connection happening and for the most part, it comes from the same place – fear,” she said.

“Most of us will have had very little, if any, experience of the wrong side of the law and it’s uncomfortable that we could have for doing something that just weeks ago was a normal mundane activity.”

She said everyone needed to take a step back and find a shared perspective.

“The task of maintaining the lockdown will only get more difficult, as will the role of police,” she added.

“Bending or ignoring the rules is a little like boiling the frog; we erode the lockdown in degrees, reducing its effectiveness.”

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