Britons increasingly frustrated by months of restrictions to stem the spread of COVID-19 have found an unlikely new champion in pensioner Maureen Eames who declared: “I’m 83, I don’t give a sod.”
Eames, a resident of Notton, a village near the northern English town of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, became a viral hit after reacting to news that her area will move into the “very high” lockdown tier 3 on Saturday to tackle a rising level of infections.
That means a ban on households mixing indoors and travel to areas outside of the tier, and also the closure of pubs and bars, betting shops, casinos and soft play centres.
“I think it’s all ridiculous. We should never have been in lockdown. All the people who are vulnerable should have been helped and kept safe… I’m 83, I don’t give a sod,” Eames told BBC television on Wednesday.
“I look at it this way – I’ve not got that many years left in me and I’m not going to be fastened in a house when the government have got it all wrong.
“How can we get the country on its feet, money-wise? Where’s all the money? By the end of this year there are going to be millions of people unemployed, and you know who’s going to pay for it? All the young ones. Not me, because I’m going to be dead.”
Eames’ outburst drew comparisons with “Brenda from Bristol”, whose incredulous reaction of “Not another one?” to the prospect of another national election in 2017 became a social media sensation.
REUTERS