In his regular column, the Radstock Mayor writes:

This cold period that we are experiencing should have a happy ending. Anybody who is out in it experiences a type of catharsis, a cleansing without and within. It should knock all forms of Corona virus for six and already we are seeing a dramatic decline in new cases.

Seemingly it is with some reluctance that breadwinners join the queues of people going to work. Who can blame them? The frustration of the daily commute was mollified to a large extent by the choice to work from home. Indeed, the development of technology such as 'Zoom' has enabled such preferences to be continued so that a person's home becomes their workplace. Objections have been raised because of the distractions ever present at home. However, judging by the larger numbers of employees huddled round the back door with their fags and coffee, they are natural rather than planned.

In our modern society where often both parents go out to work, the loser has been the family because important aspects of nurture have been left to hired hands with little to offer. If the family is secure because one or both parents are at home, the children will be strong and confident. Multiplied up, it will be reflected in the strength of the nation.

If two years of Covid have taught us anything it is that we don't have to spend the next ten going back to a way of life that we have cast off.