Lyn from Skipton

Lyn from Skipton.
Remember the name. If you like pub quizzes then I guarantee it will come up in the future. It probably doesn’t matter if you spell it Lyn, Lynn, Lynne or Lin for a pub quiz but the Downing Street journalists have consistently gone for Lyn, so they probably saw it written down.

Who asked the first public question on the Daily Coronavirus Briefing in 2020?
Lyn from Skipton.

Beautiful photo of Skipton shamelessly stolen from Heriots Hotel’s twitter feed - note to self: must visit 

If you are a conspiracy theorist then you will have decided that Lyn from Skipton doesn’t actually exist and is just Dominic Cummings’ keyboard-warrior alter ego. If you hate the media, you might have decided that Lyn asked a better questions than any of the journalists. If you hate the government then you probably think that the least offensive/softest question was chosen. If you loved Jeremy Corbyn then you will take this as further evidence that he won the argument and PMQs should contain questions from the public read out from the back of a tatty old envelope.

I think that journalists and MPs are always asking the questions that the public ask them to, whilst protecting their identity. That is their job but it’s so much more fun to be able to ridicule Lyn from Skipton directly.

Whatever you think, it is undeniable that the government asked the public to submit questions. The government website states that questions need to be submitted by 12pm and one will be selected by an independent polling organisation at 3pm. The questioner will be asked if they want to video themselves asking the question or to have the question read out. I can’t say I blame Lyn for choosing the second option.

https://www.gov.uk/ask

I’m not sure why everybody is so upset about the question. One glance at social media will tell you that hugging is in people’s thoughts; that grandchildren are being missed; that people want to know how we will transition out of lockdown even once the five tests are met. Lyn’s question seemed to round up a lot of the questions I’ve seen people asking, so I’m not surprised it was chosen.

 “I am missing my grandchildren so much. Please can you let me know if after the five criteria are met is being able to hug our close family one of the first steps out of lockdown.”

Chris Whitty was chosen to answer the question.

I could have misinterpreted it but I think he said something like: Well Lynn, if you are in a vulnerable group then you are never going to hug your grandchildren again.

I was telling my children about it over dinner. 

“So, if you are over seventy and are probably going to die soon then you can’t hug your grandchildren, even after the risk of a second spike of infections is over?”

“It’s too big a price to pay.”

“What if you spent years not seeing anyone and the day lockdown ends, you step outside the front door and have a heart attack? What was the point?”

Our family think differently about death. 

“I just feel really sorry for Lyn,” I said, “I want to hug my grandchildren before I die.”

They reminded me that I haven’t got grandchildren.

“I know!” I said, “I’m never going to get them if they don’t end lockdown so you can get out there and make me a grandmother.”

Embarrassing your children is something that can still be enjoyed though.