Disclaimer: I believe Covid is real. I think anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers are idiots. I have fairly conventional, left-wing liberal opinions. I'm not one of "those" people. Just so you know.

Prior to Covid, I've never really held any genuinely controversial political positions, at least not on topics that affect huge swathes of society. When the first lockdown was announced in March I was totally supportive, if anything I agreed with many in Labour who said it should have been done earlier. But as the cycle of restrictions drags on and on I'm feeling increasingly queasy about them.

I don't disagree with everything; as I mentioned I'm fully behind masks and I support closing pubs and non-essential retail as long as enough support is granted to get them through it. What makes me more than a little uneasy is that the government is currently using the force of law to interfere in people's private and family lives. We've all heard the phrase "household mixing" recently and it always strikes me as utterly dystopian and dehumanising. There are elderly people who live alone and seeing their family each week gives meaning to their lives. To Chris Whitty that's just "household mixing", but it means the world to the person and their family.

I have first-hand experience. My grandmother has dementia, and she's currently living in a home. Every day she cries and gets upset because my grandad used to visit every day, and even if she can't remember exactly she knows something is wrong. I've done a few window visits and I've seen the change in her. I worry that when things go back to normal she won't even recognise my grandad at all and it absolutely breaks my heart.

I just strongly believe that it should be up to individuals to judge their own acceptable level of risk, and agree with each other whether that risk is worth taking.

The other thing that doesn't sit right with me is the government ban on demonstrations. I believe that the freedom to peacefully protest is a fundamental right and a cornerstone of our democracy. No ifs, no buts. One "but" is one too many, even in a pandemic.

If I was an MP I couldn't bring myself to vote for the tier system, or indeed any law that restricted the right to protest or the right to spend time with friends and family. I just couldn't vote for it in good conscience knowing that that vote could be the reason an elderly couple, like my grandparents, never see each other again. I couldn't vote for it knowing that that vote could cause someone to commit suicide, or lose their home or their business.

On the one hand I'm proud of my convictions, but I still feel somewhat guilty because I know that suddenly I'm on the same side as Ian Duncan Smith and Nigel Farage, and that thousands of people will call me a granny-killer for even suggesting that the government have been too authoritarian. Yet 100% I believe keeping people from their family is evil and wrong, so I'm in a wierd position.