Dumb Coronavirus lockdown question of the day: why are DIY shops open and not museums?
Simon Jenkins has a question for Guardian readers. There are many question about the Covid-19 pandemic – when will there be a cure?; will there be a cure?; if you survive it are you immune? – and governments’ reaction to is – is total lockdown right?; should more countries have followed Sweden’s model?; is China lying?. But he wants to know: “Why can I visit a DIY shop but not a museum?” Opening DIY stores and not museums is evidence, he reasons, that lockdown is failing. The simple answer to his puzzler is: because you can’t fix a leak with a statue.
Says Simon Jenkins:
Why can I crowd Oxford’s supermarkets but not its Ashmolean Museum? Why are people trusted to “socially distance” in a DIY shop but not in a garden centre or a National Trust park? My local hardware store can sell from its front door, but not my local pub.
Well, a pub is not an off licence. See here. And a visit to the Ashmolean is not comparable to buying food to survive, even if the cafe is open (which it isn’t). Also: you can look at statues and stuff online and get some kind of mental sustenance, but pictures of food will not supply the necessary vitamins and nutrients.
Posted: 8th, May 2020 | In: News Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
