Two metres or not two metres? That is the question

Non essential shops across the country reopened on Monday, with long queues outside many of these in Birmingham

"It's a big moment for the country," declares the Health Secretary Matt Hancock as the coronavirus alert level is downgraded to level three, implying that the social distancing rules may soon be eased.

I surprise myself sometimes. "Retail therapy" usually seems like a contradiction in terms. "Shopping for shopping's sake", I've always called it.

It's more likely to bring me out in a rash than to give me a tonic: not for me all that aimless drifting, even if it is one of our nation's favourite hobbies. I favour the surgical strike: get in, get it and get out.

But as I stroll through central Birmingham I find my spirits unexpectedly lifting at the sight of long-deserted streets bustling once again with cheerful shoppers carrying their latest purchases as the shutters open-up at retail outlets deemed non-essential for month after tedious month.

Non-essential indeed! You should see the state of my trainers. After all this extra daily exercise we've been having, they are so worn-down that great chunks of rubber fall off every time I walk through the park. Suddenly, shoe shops are one of life's essentials.

And as for hairdressers: I'm amazed how many of my friends are mysteriously turning grey, or parading the return of the legendary mullet.

But, along with pubs, hairdressers will not reopen until 4 July "at the earliest", says the government, under a further easing of the lockdown which it warns can be implemented only when "the science" permits.

But what exactly is "the science" these days? It looks increasingly ambiguous to many of us.

Two metres are still not enough to make social distancing work according to some experts.

While others, including medical sociologist Prof Robert Dingwall of Nottingham Trent University, repeatedly regale listeners to BBC Radio Four's Today programme with what they consider compelling evidence that the present limit is doing more harm than good, especially when you take into account the social and economic damage it causes.

Having kept the two-metre limit "under constant review", the prime minister now has it "under formal review", which means he is now bringing the economists into the government's advisory Big Tent. But it's always the politicians who must decide.

And now the lowering of the Covid-19 threat level to three may embolden them as they consider their next relaxation of the rules.

What's your poison?

So when exactly will the pubs reopen here? Could Midlanders even get an early foretaste of a freshly drawn pint of draft ale before the rest of Britain?

The Conservative Mayor Andy Street certainly hopes so. He points out ministers say they are watching developments in other countries: so I am intrigued to see Lucy Williamson's live broadcast on BBC News at Six from a Paris bistro where customers chat amiably just one metre apart.

Cafe culture returned to the streets of Paris on 2 June

With Covid-19 infection rates falling, Mr Street hopes ministers might monitor some options just as closely here at home. He wants them to allow the West Midlands to be a pilot region for the reopening of pubs and bars.

We may soon find ourselves solemnly going about our civic duty of testing the safety, or otherwise, of summer evenings in the beer garden or the saloon bar, two metres apart (or just one), on behalf of a grateful nation.

During my lunchtime strolls I even noticed bar staff washing the dust off their front doors. The lights are on and there's definitely someone in. Do they know something we don't?

Licensees I've talked to reckon an easing of the two-metre rule could be make-or-break, the difference between most of them going bust, or the vast majority surviving.

As if to underline what a tricky ministerial decision this is, the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab cautions that the reopening of pubs is "fraught with risks".

"There is a higher level of risk of transmission. That's the advice we've had from the experts. So we do have to wait a little longer to make sure we can do that responsibly," he said.

Nothing would be worse for business and the economy generally than a dreaded second spike in the coming autumn and winter.

Something in the air

But what's this? An unfamiliar humming sound up above.

It seems it's not just the shops that are returning. Yes, it's the first Lufthansa Airbus I have seen for three months, on the glide slope from Sutton Park towards Birmingham Airport's Runway 15. Midlands Today confirms it.

Just 5,000 passengers a month have been passing through Birmingham Airport during lockdown

Our Transport Correspondent Peter Plisner reports EasyJet has also returned along with KLM, and Loganair, with Jet2 and TUI coming next month and the international "majors" including Emirates and Qatar Airways returning not long after that.

For the airport's chief executive, Nick Barton, the heavy jets can't return soon enough. An airport normally thronging with more than one million passengers every month has been handling barely 5,000.

Two-metre social distancing is much in evidence here as well, of course, though compulsory temperature checks and face coverings at least enable airlines to market all their seats rather than the originally mooted two-thirds.

Much more troubling here is the 14-day quarantine period ordered by the government for most passengers arriving on international flights.

Messrs Street and Barton, have written jointly to Home Secretary Priti Patel calling for extra exemptions to the quarantine rules to boost the recovery of Birmingham's business tourism sector.

Government ministers never tire of trumpeting how highly they rate our Conservative Metro Mayor.

But does this mean they will allow him scope to follow his own advice, with at least measure of separation from the rest of the country after 4 July?

Independence Day may yet offer a significant test of how much clout Mayor Street enjoys.