Football’s back but it will be weird without fans
The English Premier League matches start on Wednesday in empty grounds, although little-known Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden appeared to know little about the beautiful game when he spoke about it.
He appealed to fans not to head to stadia which will echo of silence when the games are played.
Dowden said: “There is nothing to be gained from congregating outside a stadium.”
He didn’t read all the fixtures but raised hopes that fans could “start” to return to stadiums at the beginning of next season.
That may be easier at outdoor venues where the virus does not so easily transmit. Not such good news for other parts of national culture in the fight against Covid-19.
Labour of luvvies
Not such good news for the theatre industry. Medical experts and performers are to be convened to try and get the industry on its feet again but Dowden warned: “It will still be immensely challenging for theatres. They really do rely, not just in terms of the atmosphere but the profit margins, they work on wafer-thin profit margins, they need lots of people packed in.”
It sounds like it will be some time before actors experience the roar of the crowd and the smell of the greasepaint again.
Bish-bash bosh
The PM is “wholly unscathed” following a dent to the car when a protester ran in front of it as he left the Commons, Downden reported.
His reputation not so unscathed by a decision to spend nearly £1 million on a Union Jack makeover to a grey RAF jet used to transport Ministers abroad.
Dowden defended the decision as an example of soft power, insisting that the UK is a “a creative industries superpower.” Which raises they question what special powers the PM has?
No public inquiry
Back on subject the Minister would make no official commitment that there will be a public inquiry into the government’s handling of the coronaviris crisis.
Dowden said will be a time to “look at all of those lessons” but the Government’s focus “has to be on what we are doing to continue to control and drive down the numbers of this disease”.
In the last 24 hours 184 people died of coronavirus across the UK.
