Looking back at my previous
New Statesman diaries, I was struck by how much of the column was filled by accounts of what I had done and where I had been. This year, like everyone else, I don’t really have that option. “Nothing much” and “nowhere interesting” doesn’t make for particularly gripping reading. In fact, it is sometimes difficult to remember anything about this year apart from the pandemic. I even ended up splitting the
Private Eye Annual into two sections – 2020 BC (Before Coronavirus) and 2020 AD (Anno Dominic Cummings). However, I was determined in this diary to be more positive and to focus on the activities that were still possible in the new normal.