His message therefore proved a jarring mixture of carrot and stick half Blitz Spirit, half “Winter is Coming”. But not, perhaps, to go into full apocalypse mode, or not yet at least. So Mr Javid was there to spur caution, and action too – specifically amongst those dallying oldies yet to take up their booster jabs.
“Revert to Plan B!” they cried, ideally one involving only a few small tweaks to our daily routines, such as mask mandates, vaccine passports, stay-at-home orders, a liberal democracy relinquishing its basic freedoms to prop up an ailing health service each winter, you get the idea. His challenge was to settle on a halfway house – somewhere between exuding complacency, and meeting the demands of that vocal triumvirate of opposition MPs, NHS leaders and Twitter GPs. And no wonder, for he faced an uneasy tightrope walk. The Health Secretary had turned up slightly late to his evening presser. “It remains a threat to our loved ones – and a threat to the progress we’ve made in getting our nation closer to normal life”. “The pandemic is far from over,” said Sajid Javid, briefly un-glueing his eyes from his notes to fix the cameras with his trademark rabbit-in-headlight stare.
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