THIS YEAR’S NEU conference is set to be a very different affair to those we are used to — rather than being hosted in Manchester it will take place virtually. But then doesn’t everything?

In fact just as I am starting to get used to life in lockdown on Plague Island it seems like things are starting to ease up and dare I say it — return to normal. Pretty much every adult I know has either now had the vaccine or had Covid-19.

I suspect a very significant number of young people have too, due to the reckless way (intentionally so?) in which school reopenings were handled over and over again.

I’ve decided that as we’ve recently marked the anniversary of the lockdown I am going to use this opportunity to reflect on this past year. Personally speaking my experience of the pandemic has been a lucky one. I know it isn’t the same for everyone.

I’m lucky to have my family to spend time with, a stable job and to live next to some beautiful nature. Can we keep the good bits and lose the bad?

I miss holidays and I can’t visit my mum who lives abroad which is hard but other than that... I really don’t want to go “back to normal.”