| Good evening Life can be cruel at times. On the eve of starting to get our lives back to normal, the new variant of coronavirus is flexing its muscles. So much so that four people have sadly died from the Indian variant. That is four more families wrecked by this terrible disease at a time when they almost certainly thought they were likely to be safe from its ravages, given that the number of cases, hospitalisations and deaths has been falling for more than a month. While opening up will go ahead as planned on Monday, for us here in the North West it is a timely reminder that while we might want to hug all our friends on a big night out or in, that is probably not the wisest move. Our public health directors want to see quick, localised actions to stem the tide - and that is absolutely the right course of action. Vaccinations, we have been told all along, are the only way out of a pandemic - and so it is proving. But we also need to remember that we have a role to play in this with our own behaviour. We are definitely not out of the woods yet. Until next time, take care, Gillian Drop me a line at [email protected] with your views and please subscribe to support sustainable local journalism in your community. Click here to view our offers. Here are some of today's top stories ... | 
