Fergus Finlay: When we relax our guard against Covid, we do it with alcohol

We’re 600+ days into the pandemic, and the only thing we know for sure is that there’s no magic wand to get rid of it

Our columnist can’t help wondering about the coincidence of late nights reopening — with all that means in terms of alcohol consumption — and the huge increase in Covid numbers.

The core of public policy around the pandemic has been in the phrase “living with Covid”. But we’re not living with Covid now, we’re struggling with it. And it’s a pretty existential struggle.

A couple of weeks ago, I was in the queue at Tescos, waiting to pay for my chicken fillets and milk. Everyone was masked and maintaining good social distance. The guy in front of me told me to go ahead of him because he had to unload a full trolley. And boy was it full. Three two-dozen boxes of different kinds of beer, about a dozen bottles of red and white wine, some gin, vodka, and whiskey, and a slew of mixers.