Red Light Spells Danger!

When will we be able to fly again, like we did before the pandemic? It’s a question doing the rounds right now. May, July, August, 2022 or it will never come back are just some of the answers that have been banded about by keyboard warriors or so called “experts” who have no actual information to give but thrive on writing or saying it anyway. Speculate all you like, Boris Johnson will reveal when the return of international travel for the UK will be next Monday April 5th. Whilst that may or may not reveal the date it hopefully will give us a pathway to freedom and the chance to be able to travel for holidays and visiting family again. 

My view is now we need a clear plan going forward and learn to live with the virus, not let it or the Government completely control our lives. That applies to pretty much any country around the World depending on their vaccination rates, which without doubt are suppressing the numbers. 

The Global Travel Task Force will report on the way forward for International travel in the UK, with the current date that holidays will be allowed is May 17th. You may ask why has he brought it forward a week and also on Bank Holiday Monday? Well it’s a massive announcement and affects so many livelihoods not just in the UK but all over the World. So he wants a captive audience and with most people off work it’s as good a time as any. 

I imagine they will be looking at each destination very carefully, it’s rate of infections and the vaccination programme. A few leaks have started of course with the Telegraph reporting that he is expected to announce plans for a return to travel abroad using a ‘traffic light’ style system.

This would reportedly see travel to ‘red’ countries banned, holidays to ‘amber’ nations needing a negative test and quarantine, with ‘green’ countries giving some form of exemption but with testing.

Malta, Gibraltar, Portugal, Israel, Canada, Barbados, the UAE and the US could all be put into the lowest category because of their plans to vaccinate half the adult population by mid-May.

Three other popular destinations, Spain, Greece and Turkey, would reportedly be on the amber list, which includes quarantine measures.

Now you’d think our National Government would be falling over themselves to get tourists back to Spain. Surely it should be a charm offensive and we should be rolling out the red carpet? No, just 6 days before Boris Johnson reveals the path for UK travellers they come up with……face masks must be worn on the beach! Then 24 hrs later they back track and say as long as social distancing is maintained then it won’t be obligatory. But by then it was out in the British press and the damage was done. Remember when Señor Sanchez said we should have most of our population vaccinated by the end of the Summer? And then another Minister back tracked and said as soon as they could. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, how are these people running our country? How many more times do they want to kick us in the Jacobs(think about it) and not worry about the consequences? This smacks again of a National Government looking after their own in Madrid and not thinking about other destinations, particularly ours that depend on tourism. It’s like the lockdown, when it happened last year our numbers here were about the same as they are now yet we were still put in lockdown. It’s governing for the few and not the many and it should be another nail in the coffin for this coalition. 

I did hear that our Balearic Government pushed back and was asking for it not to be obligatory and said they would find it hard to Police, which was a good thing to hear. We need our Government to push back more and not just agree everything because we are in coalition. Even the calmest of people I know are getting fed up with all these different rules and regulations. It’s the constant changing for me and also the fine culture we find ourselves in. If it isn’t hard enough for a lot of people now, we’ll fine you 100€ for not wearing the mask. I thought I lived in Spain, not North Korea! 

And don’t come up with the, “well you don’t have to live here.” I love this island, it’s my home and has been for 30 years. I don’t like to see it be ruined by people in power that don’t have a clue in what they are saying and doing. But yet we’re supposed to sit back and let it all happen. 

Please be aware that I wrote this on Wednesday, so if they u-turn on anything else I give up! 

Take care everyone and enjoy your Easter Weekend! 

Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday 07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance! 

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com