This new normal.

Once again, the world of politics has been overtaken by movements much larger and much more important. As we struggle to deal with Covid-19 and the pandemic it has caused, society as we know it is paused for the foreseeable future.

We’re all getting used to this new normal. The confinement feels like I’m a teenager again, with my freedom and liberty taken away, sleeping in the room I shared with my brother as we grew up. Being back in Somerset has its drawbacks, but also some silver linings.

And as we adapt to the new challenges that we now face – working from home, educating our children, putting our lives on hold – we will lose sight of perhaps what life was like before.

Occasionally, the world shifts. In the last decade, the UK has seen turbulence come from arguable relative stability. In 2012, all eyes were on London as it hosted the Olympic Games, and then 2016’s referendum on membership of the EU created years and years of fallout from that decision, that whilst spun by the Government as being over in reality are far from.

Whilst at the time we may have thought of these events as being global, in reality we were looking at national or continental rather than truly worldwide, despite feeling like the globe was imploding from where we were watching.

No one is arguing that Covid-19 is going to be less than a catastrophe, and now that the UK is truly grappling and battling with it, but it shows a version of what life can be like under a different sort of politics, under a different sort of regime, a different sort of society.

Right now we’re rightly re-evaluating our priorities, trying to cope with the sudden collapse of the economy as we know it, and searching for new, creative, entrepreneurial ways to continue working in this world that’s suddenly held us captive, at the same time as doing everything we can to stop the spread of coronavirus.

It doesn’t mean that things are easy, far from it. Things are different, things are weird and life as we know it has to be put on hold for the good of wider society. I am also aware that I am writing from a privileged position where I continue to be able to work and earn a salary, and I’m aware that I’m fortunate for being able to get away from London for a while.

This Government, in shutting down vast swathes of our economy must protect all those affected by it. For the self-employed, the freelance, the small businesses who are the backbone of this country, there must be ways to protect all who have lost their livelihoods.

It isn’t often when you reach a point in time when a shift in society can take place. And whilst we shouldn’t rush to change the set-up of our economy as it exists at the moment, we should consider as a country whether measuring economic output is the metric we want to represent success in Britain.

The fundamental shift in our country, and in countries around the world creates an opportune moment to rebalance. We could concentrate on citizens happiness, environmental measurements and cost of living analysis in order to judge whether the UK is performing well. It’s above my pay grade and education to truly suggest a change at this scale, but I’m sure it’s possible.

As I sit and try to adjust to this new normal, without knowing when I’ll be able to return home to the city I love, I wonder what will Britain look like, what will the new normal be, will we ever get back to the society we once knew?