Gosh, it has been a long time since I did one of these.

Anyway, the UK came out of Lockdown #2 on December 2nd. The rate of new cases of COVID-19 had been falling for a while, and the death rate had started to fall as well. Predictably, as soon as Lockdown ended, the rate of new cases started to rise again. We had over 20,000 yesterday. Deaths are still falling as they tend to lag a week or two behind the new cases, but by Christmas I expect things to be back where they were at the last peak, if not higher.

Thankfully the situation locally is very good. There were fewer than 10 new cases in Trowbridge in the past week, and much of the town is currently rated “supressed”. I’m not planning to go anywhere much over the holidays.

The vaccine is now being rolled out, and a few people in Bristol have already got their jabs. I am by no means vulnerable or essential, so I expect it to be many months before my turn comes around.

Meanwhile Bozo has managed to thoroughly piss off the EU leadership and major European heads of state. A “no deal” exit from the EU now seems inevitable, and indeed Bozo has been on the BBC boasting about how good this will be for the country him and his cronies. Indeed, if news reports are to be believed, they have something like £8bn staked on a collapse of the pound.

As I am paid primarily in US dollars, I’m not too worried about collapse of the economy. I am very worried about what the next year will bring for the trans community in the UK. Because of the work I do, I get to see some of what is being done behind the scenes to dismantle trans rights. You don’t need government action to take people’s rights away. Just as the value of the Equality Act has been people knowing that discrimination was illegal, so the government flagging its desire to dismantle that Act leaves people feeling free to ignore it. Or, if it is more convenient, interpreting the EA in such a way as to conclude that trans people are a danger to everyone else and need to be denied services.

Oh well, in 50 years time historians will have a lot to write about.