Happy New Year!
I hope this message finds you well and that you were able to enjoy the festive period, as different as it was.
A new year has begun, and sadly we are back in lockdown. But this one is different. The new variant that was identified just before Christmas is much more virulent, much easier spread, and we are seeing hospitals around the whole UK stretched as far as they can allow. We are very near capacity in some of our hospitals in England. In the south east in particular. But in Scotland too, cases are rising. So we must be vigilant. We must reduce the spread of this disease so the NHS can continue to function.
The good news is, that if we are successful this time, this will probably be our last lockdown. As I write this, from home here in the North East, over 2.2 million people in the UK have had their first dose of the vaccine. Far more than any other country in Europe and behind only Israel and Bahrain in the world in per head of population terms. And so, if we allow the NHS to continue its critical work by staying at home and being extra careful when we do go outside, the extraordinary pace of vaccine roll out will mean that, by Spring, we will start to return this country to normal. And, I know you will agree, that is a wonderful thought.
Like the rest of the country, MPs are being asked to stay at home, so this week I spoke in the debate on Global Britain from home. A link to the video of my contribution is here https://www.facebook.com/bowie4wak/videos/902625023814578
Like all these debates, time constraints mean that we are unable to say all that we want, and so, please see below full text of what I wanted to say in the debate. It sets out exactly where I think we are and what Britain should be doing at this, most difficult and dangerous time in world politics.
https://www.andrewbowie.org.uk/news/global-britain-andrews-speech-commons-debate
On Monday, The Times published an article by me on dementia and why we must make it the next big priority for our researchers and scientists. We need to fund research into this awful disease properly. Science has proven, with the speed it has developed vaccines for Covid, that it can overcome most anything. Let’s put Dementia next on the list. A link to the text of my full article that originally appeared in the Times is below
https://www.andrewbowie.org.uk/news/dementia-claimed-both-my-grandparents-let-2021-be-year-we-beat-it
Thank you all for your continued support. Please Stay Home. Protect the NHS. Save Lives. We are near the end of this.
Yours Aye,
Andrew