JANET STREET-PORTER: Don’t throw stones at Rita and Kay, Tiers rely on fears

We may well sneer at serial Tier offender Rita Ora, roll our eyes at the antics of Amir Khan – stupidly posting pictures of his lavish birthday bash for 18 online – and we can gloat over Kay Burley’s grovelling apology for ‘inadvertently’ breaking the rules with a dinner for ten, then visiting another restaurant, finally heading home with pals to carry on partying.

But if we do, we’re hypocrites.

Sanction busting is rife – even Dame Joan Bakewell, national treasure and spokesperson for the elderly, admitting to bending the rules earlier this year on national television.

Back in April, during the first lockdown, 87-year-old Dame Joan stunned viewers to the BBC’s One Show by admitting she regularly invited a friend into her garden for coffee. Viewers were outraged; one posting #stupidcow on social media and another wondering ‘suppose it’s OK – depends on the size of your garden’.

Now, having illegal home visits aren’t even worthy of comment. We’re flocking to Oxford Street in our thousands and shopping shoulder-to-shoulder before visiting restaurants and claiming we’re dining with ‘family and carers’.

Save your breath, Rita Ora – a large number of normal plebs are just like you, bending the rules 

We’re a nation of individualists. Deep down, Brits believe we are all a little bit different to everyone else – especially anyone lower down the social scale or from another country. We’re islanders, hence our (insane) decision to leave Europe and go it alone, whatever the cost.

Covid has flushed out a second, particularly British character flaw – the belief that official guidelines do not apply to everyone equally.

Opinion polls bear out the undeniable truth that a sizeable number of Brits of all ages believe that some degree of ‘rule-bending’ is OK.

At the start of the pandemic, we were terrified and compliant. We stayed indoors, stayed apart. Wore masks, washed our hands every five minutes and sprayed surfaces with disinfectant.

Gradually, the rot set in, as local lockdowns and then a confusing (and – arguably – unfair) national tier system came into effect. The number of people religiously sticking to their personal set of rules started to decline – confusion, fatigue, boredom, cynicism and plain annoyance with politicians all played a part.

Obviously, Dominic Cummings’ ‘essential’ drive to Durham was a deal-breaker when it came to compliance and toeing the official line. We realised there was one set of rules for us plebs and another for the privileged few in power.

Sky News host Kay Burley (pictured with her friend and Sky's political editor Beth Rigby) made a grovelling apology for 'inadvertently' breaking the rules with a dinner for ten

Sky News host Kay Burley (pictured with her friend and Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby) made a grovelling apology for ‘inadvertently’ breaking the rules with a dinner for ten 

Covid is still with us, and until a sizeable chuck of the population has been vaccinated, we can expect rules to keep raining down from on high. But how effective will they be?

Britain’s reputation rests on challenging authority and pushing boundaries. We’re the nation producing the most creative and inspiring people in the world – from pop to architecture to sport.

Frankly, we punch above our weight for a small, overcrowded place with unpredictable weather and poor transport. We don’t conform, we fight against authority and produce brilliant results.

So why should we behave differently and toe the line just because a disorganised and shambolic government tells us they now have a strategy (and, more importantly, that they’ve finally got a vaccine to start to deal with a pandemic they failed to control).

I freely admit I’m guilty as charged – regularly dining with a small number of friends (never more than 2) who just happen to be my ‘business associates’.

Restaurant owners admit they have no idea if the contact details given on booking are correct and if the people sitting around a table drinking and eating ‘substantial’ meals are related, in a bubble, conducting business, or just getting a bit pissed to lessen the misery of week after week of bad news, no Brexit deal, rising unemployment and business closures.

Amir Khan stupidly posted pictures of his lavish birthday bash for 18 online earlier this week

Amir Khan stupidly posted pictures of his lavish birthday bash for 18 online earlier this week

The hospitality industry is fighting for survival, and they are not going to police the government’s leaky set of guidelines. As long as people wear masks, sit apart and don’t shout, who would blame a pub or restaurant owner for taking their money and bunging a load of scotch eggs with chips in their direction? You have to find a way to pay the wages or go under.

Meanwhile a lot of high-profile celebs like Amir Khan and Rita Ora get caught out by their giant egos – they simply cannot resist flaunting what a great time they’ve having on social media- guaranteed to make the rest of us feel slightly left out.

Khan bragged ‘all the boys are here’ at his 34th birthday dinner, catered by a Michelin-starred private chef, featuring a huge boxing-themed cake.

Of course, when caught out, these ‘covididiots’ are unbelievably ‘sorry’ – Rita offered to pay a £10,000 fine – peanuts if you’ve just been paid over £100,000 to sing for a group of rich Egyptians and said: ‘While I realise the apologetic words of a pop star might not carry much weight, especially one who has broken the rules like I have, I do realise some might seek to follow my example. My message to them is simple: please don’t. The guilt and shame I’ve carried this week for my mistake aren’t worth it. Instead, continue to listen to the Government advice and the voices of the heroes of the NHS and take the required precautions.’

Save your breath, Rita – a large number of normal plebs are just like you, bending the rules.

Boris’s tiers are a busted flush. Whatever he decides on December 16, most of us have already decided to go with our version of lockdown for the forseeable future.

Because the brutal truth is we didn’t all stay home to ‘protect the NHS’, we all stayed home to protect ourselves because we saw those awful pictures from Italy and were terrified of dying alone in hospital with a bucket over our head.

But human beings can get used to anything, given time – and nine months later a lot of us simply aren’t as scared as we used to be.

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