THERE are many reasons to feel sorry for the English. Unlike there, here the apocalypse hasn’t materialised.

In March, we were like the US marines in the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, rumbling towards the Normandy beaches in their landing crafts, fearing death would come for them at any second. Unlike those poor souls on D Day, many people are beginning to feel that we arrived on the beaches and the Germans were never there at all.

In the UK there is a vibrant coronabollocks constituency, on and offline, spearheaded by the likes of The Mail on Sunday’s Peter Hitchens ( “Britain is infected….by a bad case of madness”). As though reality had been manipulated, and that the coronavirus panic was a sort of con job.

Little wonder. Boris Johnson started out as a leading member of the coronabollocks movement. In March at an emergency press conference, he boasted “I was at a hospital the other night where I think there were a few coronavirus patients and I shook hands with everybody, you will be pleased to know, and I continue to shake hands.” How did that work out for you Boris?

In that early panic, unlike the English, we embraced the lockdown north and south and for me, we were right to do so.

The science was stark and terrifying, and if we are in any doubt about what might have happened, we can look across the Irish Sea and see England being ravaged under what might be the most inept government in modern political history.

Having got Brexit done, the virus has done them over and it has been pitiful watching their daily attempts to present it as the greatest triumph since beating the Germans in 1966.

Their official death toll of 41,000 is widely seen as chronically understated because of the method the government has chosen to count it. The real figure (based on excess deaths compared to other years) is around 65,000. Do not be surprised to see that figure emblazoned on the side of a Tory battlebus some day soon, with a slogan saying THANK YOU TO OUR NHS HEROES.

Their chaotic response is the inevitable outcome of a lengthy assault on professionalism, competence, integrity (and eye testing) by the Cummings project, leaving the UK with a governing party made up of yes men and women with no real influence or power. Ireland beware.

In the face of this terrifying enemy, the lockdown was entirely appropriate and the steps taken since then absolutely correct. Imagine our elderly relatives and friends being ravaged as they are in England?

No goodbyes or embraces or decent closure. Instead a phone call from the hospital to say they are dead, undertakers swaddled in protective equipment spraying them down with disinfectant, placing them in body bags before screwing the casket down, then a funeral with 10 mourners. What horrors most of us have been able to avoid.

As citizens, through our lived experiences, we can now see a different reality. With each passing day we have seen miniscule fatalities. In the North, we are down to less than one a day. In the South, single figures.

As Tim Brown, the renowned transplant surgeon said last week, “the population of the island has played a blinder for the last three months. They have made major sacrifices for the good of the elderly and vulnerable. This is why only a tiny amount of the virus is left. Social distancing has caused this. Without human hosts to transfer to, the virus cannot survive.”

The major disappointment is that the governments and health systems north and south (in common with all of the worst performing countries) didn’t protect our care homes.

Unlike Cuba, where a population of 11.2 million has lost less than 80 citizens, or New Zealand with a population of five million, who have lost only 23. Countries where their community spirit, fact-based consensus politics, and well resourced health care systems set an example for us all.

We look at America, a failed social experiment gripped by civil strife and hatred caused by terrible systemic inequality. Dr Cornel West recently said the core problem there was that “Everybody is for sale. Everything is for sale.” We see exactly the same thing happening in England, with rents soaring, nurses and teachers queuing at food-banks, wealthy cabals controlling politics and legislation and we think to ourselves with a sinking feeling in the stomach, it’s happening in the South as well.

Unlike the Premier League, which is a paragon of corporate insincerity, the GAA is in a very strong position of trust.

With the announcement of a cautious but morale-boosting pathway back games on Friday past, our leadership has not squandered this position of strength and the pathway back to games announced on Friday is exemplary.

There is always an element of risk in human life, but the risk involved in this plan is very small indeed. An important backdrop to the GAA’s thinking is that all our school kids, North and South, will be back at school by the end of August anyway.

Socially distanced classrooms are impossible. If they are going to be in school all day from 9 to 4, why can they not play the games? In the circumstances, their phased return is a no-brainer. Once that principle is accepted, the rest flows naturally.

I am delighted that the first step was the reopening of the walking areas at our pitches from Monday past. This may seem a small step, but it is a very important one, since it emphasizes the community aspect of the GAA and allows members of all ages to return to an old friend. Nothing like strolling round the grounds of a mild summer’s evening shooting the breeze with old pals.

The sounds coming from the hierarchy are that the likely model for the inter-county championship is a return to the pre Super 8s model (meaning the resumption of the Qualifier system) and that the entire championship will be condensed into around 8-10 weeks, the final being played in mid December.

A one-off All-Ireland knock out series would be very attractive but I think there are two things that will prevent this happening. One, the TV companies would be looking for significant discount. Two, the provincial councils would be strongly opposed since a successful All-Ireland series would diminish the argument for retaining the provinces. The Dubs will not be coming to Celtic Park.

Then there is the issue of spectators. On this front, the current thinking is that the capacity be divided by around three, only seating areas can be used and the seats that can be used will be marked out to ensure the safest possible social distancing.

So, for example, Croke Park’s capacity would be around 25,000, allowing the games to proceed with the necessary connection between supporters, families, friends and team maintained. John Horan said at the weekend on Na Fianna TV that they were considering taking out the barriers in Hill 16 and installing seating, which would boost the attendance again and avoid an empty Hill.

Within 10 minutes of the announcement of the pathway, my phone was ringing off the hook. The notes for the minor squad were on the table and the first training session fixed for the June 30 at Musgrave. In common with clubs all around the country, the mood is one of euphoria.

There are many reasons to feel sorry for the English, and the GAA is one of them.

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