Our writings on this subject have been interpreted as being obsessive. Is that really the case?

What is worse? Being told you cannot travel because of a growing covid issue or just carrying on as usual and catching the new variant?

A new variant appears in South Africa and panic seems to have set in everywhere.

Europe is getting into a real state over the spread of covid and new measures are being taken more or less everywhere to try and stop it.

The idea of getting into an aeroplane powered purely by electricity is really quite exciting and probably extraordinary.

As the roll of new cases in the UK goes up Austria has announced that it is going back into full lockdown with effect from 22^nd November.

Germany, having pressed the panic button, has recorded huge new cases over the past few days with its seven day rolling figure exceeding 294,000.

The news that Austria is confining the non-vaccinated back to isolation has come as quite a shock and is unquestionably one of the more authoritarian moves we have seen.

There is an undercurrent of alarm building with the rapid increase in number of new covid cases over the past week or so.

Traditionally probably we do not have sympathy with airlines; they somehow usually manage to fall on their feet and generally at the expense of the flying public.

When you look at the Johns Hopkins table of cases and deaths, it is quite shocking to see that the UK is practically at the top of the list, number 4 in fact in terms of official case numbers.

Having told you about a new hospitality council yesterday poised to set the world to rights, today it is criticised for not being representative.

We are today seeing pictures on television of huge queues of cars trying to buy petrol and other pictures of closed fuel stations.

The news that travel to the US is being re-opened from November has been greeted with pleasure.

The announcement from the Transport Secretary that travel restrictions are to be lifted will no doubt be great news for everyone.

Running a restaurant is a fiendish task at the best of times but the higher your intended quality, the more difficult it gets.

Here we are at the end of August and basically the end of the summer holiday season.

France tightens its grip on areas of activity in the country where vaccinations are compulsory.

Considering the lack of apparent concern now and reduction in wearing of masks you would think that this pandemic was over.

It is strange that events and circumstances can conspire together to bring about unintended and / or unexpected consequences.

A couple of weeks ago smiling tv reporters were telling us that the toll of new cases of covid-19 had dropped “off the edge of a cliff”.

Along comes another review of the traffic light travel system with countries moving in both directions.

As July reaches its end, the August holiday season starts this weekend.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been pinged recently by the NHS covid app. This means that they have been in some proximity to someone who has since tested positive.

The travel rules into the UK are really something of a confused muddle.

Time for a break from covid and rather conveniently the topic of electric cars has been highlighted recently.

There will not be many who are not deeply worried about the increase in numbers of new cases of covid-19, not just in the UK but world-wide.

We have gone through a lot in the past sixteen months with all the shutdowns, lockdowns, restrictions, mask wearing, social distancing etc. We all know what we have had to put up with.

It is fair to say that Professor Chris Whitty has made his mark in the past year and a half.

The attitudes of different people across England and indeed the UK are beginning to get frenetic.

Is the decision of the British government to relax restrictions a selfish act which has little regard for the needs of others or does it herald the way for the rest of the world?

The announcements are coming thick and fast now and double-vaxxers will not have to quarantine when returning from amber listed countries. And this more or less opens up Europe for holiday makers.

The government has made it clear that their concern all along has been to “protect the NHS” and in their eyes this objective has now been achieved.

As restrictions start to be lifted, new controls come into force to attempt to control the spread of coronavirus but it is not as simple as it might sound.

One of the most controversial issues in the hospitality trade is the treatment of tips, or service charges, or gratuities by whatever name they are actually called.

As our daily cases number now has crept over 22000, we learn that Portugal is stepping up it measures against holiday makers who cannot prove they are double vaccinated. And Portugal is not alone – Malta is to disallow arrivals who are not doubly vaccinated from Wednesday and Spain also needs travellers to show they are doubly vaccinated or produce a negative PCR test.

The travel companies want it all opened up as quickly as possible while Angela Merkel wants all of Europe to impose quarantine on arrivals from Britain.

One of the problems of political development is that it actually takes generations to feed through the system and become meaningful.

Without a doubt covid-19 has blitzed people’s plans to get married on anything other than a minute scale for a considerable time now.

The big question will be is this government policy the tip of the iceberg or is this going to be the full extent of the requirement?

Covid-19 has wreaked havoc across the world with economies and businesses, literally on a global scale. Indeed, who knows what further damage will follow in its wake?

The thought of the lifting of all restrictions on 21^st June is becoming very worrying indeed.

There are now so many different rules and regulations in relation to coronavirus and differing levels of information that people are beginning to lose track, that is if they have not already done so.

The question has been raging on now for months as to whether there should be a UK vaccination passport or certificate and it is very clear that there is mixed feeling over this.

Breaking the sound barrier was originally almost a thing of science fiction, indeed it was questioned as to whether it was even possible.

As the holiday and aviation industries get hot under the collar over the removal of Portugal from the green list, the ONS reports a 76.5% increase in cases in the past week in England.

Talk about turning the knife in the wound; the removal of Portugal from the green list will be a real blow both to the British and the Portuguese.

The first day without deaths in the UK for a year is certainly a red letter moment; hopefully there will be more.

Life gets no easier with the pandemic and France has now decided to close its borders with the UK.

Do you remember the covid passport? This was the document which was never going to be introduced according to government thinking at the time.

Back in January we reported on how airships might become a transport of the future after the disastrous Hindenburg incident 84 years ago.

Michael Portillo is just one of many television presenters who have brought the railways of the world, let alone this country, into focus over the years with their amusing and sometimes startling documentaries on travel, railway architecture and engineering, and using books like Bradshaw’s guides!

What a bit of luck people are allowed to change their minds! From saying some months ago that the government had no intention of providing any form of covid passport, now they have.

It is all very well people saying that we are making steps back to normal, but do they mean “new normal”?

We have watched the UK green list get wittled down as the week has gone on but surely we must be in the position now where Israel is not going to be someone’s destination of choice for their summer holiday, at least not at the moment.

Is it all just too much of a frenzy? Is this desire to jet off to foreign parts just a reaction again having been stuck at home for so long? Is it really that important to get away that it is worth running the gauntlet with all the different restrictions and hurdles?

It sounded simple, albeit somewhat limited, but a list of green countries where we could travel with minimal tests and no quarantine seemed like a good start to re-opening international travel.

One could be forgiven for thinking that the British government is having a “bit of a larf” over the travel traffic light system and, in particular the green list of countries.

We tend to take a general look at covid-19 numbers at the weekend and this past week or two have been quite stunning in their developments.

If you are in the UK it is really easy to begin to think that it is all over, with lockdown restrictions being lifted, life slowly returning to some semblance of normality and everyone crowing about how well the vaccination programme is going.

As the days go by we see complaint after complaint about the effects of the virus on our society – as if it was someone’s fault.

Governments never cease to amaze and not always in a good way! It has now been announced that booster jabs can be expected in the autumn before half the people have even had their first jab!

The way discussions are moving forward around the world for a covid passport are beginning to get very interesting.

The need for there to be a covid-19 passport is hotting up as P&O has made it quite clear what its requirements will be.

Last week Cyprus announced that from 1^st May they would welcome Brits who had received both of their vaccinations.

Going back centuries, the country’s wealth was more or less all held by the Crown and the aristocracy. The ordinary people by and large had nothing.

Today’s announcement that Cyprus will allow British in quarantine free from 1^st May if they have had both of their vaccinations has thrown the whole holiday situation up into the air.

The news that the European Union is intent on the development of a vaccination certificate, to be known as a “digital green pass” is ironical in the extreme.

It is ironical that it has taken a pandemic to bring forward the revolution of the use of personal data. When we think of this, normally our minds turn to identification, bank accounts, in fact just about anything but now your food preferences?

The timing of today’s announcements means that we shall not really have a full picture of where the country is going until later this evening.

It is only a few days ago when we raised the question of vaccination passports, who might need them and when. Since then the issue has come up a number of times and passports are going to be needed and the UK runs the risk of being left behind if it does not get on board.

Things are really hotting up now with coronavirus what with variations and mutations. Where would we be if there were no vaccinations taking place?

15^th February is already a date on which a major event took place in the UK but this year is going to be remembered for something new.

We have talked about rollercoasters on a number of occasions now as we things see-saw up and down. Of course rollercoasters are supposed to be fun but unfortunately the range of goods and bads we have seen over the past nine months have been far from fun.

What can one say about the unfortunate death of Captain Sir Tom Moore? This is surely the ultimate lesson to us to respect Covid-19?

Just about everyone who stays at a hotel at any time knows about Booking.com. As online travel agents, OTAs, go, it is probably just about the best known. Their site is comprehensive and they include loads of photographs of proposed destinations and provide a fairly good amount of information about venues to enable people to make their selections.

News has now emerged that 40 of the hotels are to be reopened under a new banner – the phoenix rises. The properties will now come under management by Bespoke Hotels under a five year agreement.

It will not have escaped general notice that three more countries have now been removed from the travel corridor list, namely Czech Republic, Jamaica and Switzerland whilst Cuba has now been added, all with effect from 4 am this morning.

The World Health Organisation today said that they hoped the Covid-19 pandemic would be over in “under two years”. This seems to be putting down a clear marker for the world to ruminate over – another two years of what we are going through?