THE ongoing furore over the pingdemic and Test and Trace continued to dominate the newspapers comment sections.

The Daily Mail

Richard Littlejohn said when the Government announced that all Covid restrictions were being lifted from Monday, nobody mentioned they would be replaced by the imposition of martial law.

“Already the chairman of the Commons defence committee is calling for soldiers to take the place of delivery drivers forced to self-isolate by the pingdemic,” he said. “Supermarket shelves are being stripped bare again, because of a combination of supply shortages and the return of panic buying. Yes, folks, the Bog Roll Bandits are back. Welcome to the Summer of Stupidity, Mark II.”

He felt like Rip Van Winkle in reverse, he said. “I’d gone to sleep in July 2021 and woken up 16 months earlier. Primary cause is the disastrous Test and Trace app, which has ordered 1.3million perfectly healthy people to self-isolate unnecessarily. Test and Trace is lockdown by any other name, a disgraceful infringement of civil liberties by a so-called Conservative government.”

The Daily Express

Andrew Goodacre, chief executive of the British Independent Retailers Association, said Iceland was reportedly planning to recruit 2,000 staff to have on “stand-by” if any of their stores are hit by the “pingdemic”.

“In a small shop, if one member of staff tests positive it is likely that nearly all that team will be deemed to be in close contact, including the owner,” he said. “And this comes at a time when they are in the process of rebuilding their businesses after many months of closure, with little or no income.”

He said that even after August 16 those who have not been double jabbed will still have to isolate.

“Bira recommends the money still sat in the bank accounts of local authorities, which was supposed to be allocated in Restart Grants is redistributed to help independent businesses facing further closures,” he said. “For if the Government does not step in now there will be yet more high street casualties. Is that something we really want to see ?”

The Guardian

Polly Toynbee said that, as Parliament approaches summer recess, all we can hear is the ear-splitting clatter of huge cans being kicked down the road.

“Newspaper front pages shout about shelves left unfilled by pinged workers, while a million pinged children in England miss their last week of school, and many sectors fear being overwhelmed by pings,” she said.

“An insightful 1982 Eton end-of-term report about a youthful Boris Johnson rings truer than ever: “Boris sometimes seems affronted when criticised for what amounts to a gross failure of responsibility … I think he honestly believes that it is churlish of us not to regard him as an exception, one who should be free of the network of obligation which binds everyone else.” This letter was sent to his father – no doubt they chortled over it together.”