The Ever-Downward Coarse

Whipping is said to be nice when it stops, and so is quarantine. However, in our case we emerged from quarantine only to go into lockdown three days later, and felt in the intervening period a little like prisoners let out on a short parole.

From now on we are to be allowed out for a short period of exercise and the purchase of essentials; we must treat everyone as if he were a suicide bomber, and are treated as such in return. In France, where there are similar restrictions, there has been a lovely debate as to whether books count as essentials. Fortunately, I possess so many books still unread that this discussion would remain of purely theoretical import were it to take place in Britain: which, of course, it never would.

Anthony Daniels appears in every Quadrant.
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My wife and I, however, took advantage of what in managerialese is called a window of opportunity to go to a large antiques emporium about thirty miles from our home (thirty-seven miles…