This World, This Life

LOCKDOWN NOUN: A security measure in which those inside a building or area are required to remain confined in it for a time. - English definition, Courtesy: Collins English Dictionary, Online Edition Like most of us, probably, I had only come across the word in shoddy American tv shows and movies, typically accompanied by much gunfire and explosions, usually with Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger in the thick of it.  Then along came COVID-19.  Suddenly, most of the world found itself in lockdown – and without a shot being fired.  The world started to change before our eyes, in ways most of us had never believed possible. ------------------------------------------- People and governments reacted in different ways.  In Europe, Italy and Spain were a bit caught out and hence have suffered the worst attrition.  Britain, as usual, reacted late and arguably this cost unnecessary lives, as much as anything because the government seems to have failed in providing

There's been a lot written in the press and various chatrooms relating to footballers - particulary the highly paid "superstars" of the Premiership - and their response (or lack of) to the Coronavirus epidemic.  It's part of a wider narrative about how the sport has acted so far, when play has been forced to a standstill so close to season's end. Let's take the second bit first.  It seems to me with the virus still raging across the world, talking of being able to re-start the season in May and finishing it by mid-summer, using the windows offered by UEFA's pragmatic decision to suspend the Champions League and Europa League competitions indefinitely and move the scheduled international Euro 2020 finals into 2021 to do so, is a little over-optimistic.  There is still so much medical scientists and the WHO still do not know about the virus - for instance whether there could be a second outbreak in Asia (which is at present pretty stable) or elsewhere