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Hello 2021. I’ve been down with Covid since New Year's Day and it’s been pretty brutal. When I lived in India a few years ago I got dengue fever and typhoid at the same time. This has felt worse. And more scary. Thread. 1/12
Having written early on in the pandemic about the many weird ways Covid can attack the body, I knew what could be coming. Please take it seriously, and don’t listen to the loons who tell you it’s just flu. 2/12 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/52760992
I had excruciating back pain and headaches, a temperature but luckily not too much trouble breathing. My heart had a couple of funny turns, and 1 day last week I just burst into tears every time I tried to read or watch TV. Covid finds your vulnerabilities and attacks them. 3/12
I'm hopefully on the mend now, but still feel like I’ve been hit by a baseball bat. And I'm generally healthy with no underlying conditions. Thanks to the #NHS and the marvellous paramedics who keep everything moving and turned up twice at my house when I really needed them. 4/12
So, what’s been happening? Apparently it’s a lot more difficult to trade with the single market. Which must have come as a shock to anyone who thought talking to actual experts about practical problems - and, you know, facts - was just the latest iteration of Project Fear. 5/12
Commiserations to all those businesses who are having to deal with the huge number of new non-tariff barriers that the Prime Minister assured us on Christmas Eve didn’t exist. 6/12 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55706114
I'm pretty sure border disruption will ease over time, as companies are forced to adjust to more red tape and higher costs. But it’ll get much worse before it gets better. Some businesses won't survive in their current form, or at all; others will emerge to meet new demands. 7/12
And this, by Kate Hoey, seems to suggest that Northern Ireland is now being treated very differently than the rest of the UK. I mean, who could have known? Even 15 months ago? Can anyone confirm - @JP_Biz perhaps? 8/12 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/01/13/tories-have-betrayed-northern-ireland-brexit-deal/
Meanwhile, I'm able to read interesting stuff again. This, by the incomparable @TimothyDSnyder, on the United States: "When we give up on truth, we concede power to those with the wealth and charisma to create spectacle in its place." 9/12 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/magazine/trump-coup.html
And this, beautifully written by @rafaelbehr about his heart, strangely reminded me of the brain fog that seemed to have enveloped British politics when I came back in 2016 after 25 years as a foreign correspondent. 10/12 https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jan/16/i-thrived-on-the-tension-and-drama-of-british-politics-then-i-had-a-heart-attack
Because of this ghastly pandemic, the fog is even thicker at the moment. When it lifts, facts will matter more than ever. But the best current fact is vaccines - congratulations and thanks to everyone who has created them, distributed them, and is now administering them. 11/12
And finally... others have already said this, but how brave is this man? Sadly, it reminded me of the return of Benazir Bhutto to Pakistan in 2007. Hopefully this story ends in a better way. 12/12. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55700312
