Have you been to the pub yet? Or did the May Day Bank Holiday washout put you off, not to mention the prospect of sitting through this week's hail showers.

In their infinite wisdom, our lockdown-loving politicians, MPs included, think this is all for the good of our health, even if enjoying the beer garden currently puts you at greater risk of dying from pneumonia than dying with Covid-19.

It seems they really have it in for the hospitality sector as a court judgement revealed last week.

Hospitality bosses Sacha Lord and Hugh Osmond took the government to court over the delayed opening of pubs, not allowing them to have inside customers, when 'non-essential' retail was allowed to do so after April 12.

The pair argued there was no scientific basis behind the government's move and though they lost the case their case to bring the re-opening of pubs to inside customers forward, they were able to get the government to publish its own impact assessment on the issue.

Sacha Lord has retweeted extracts of this impact assessment which shows there was little or no greater of infection from Covid-19 if you visited pubs, restaurants or other hospitality settings.

The government's own SAGE has also found just 226 cases of Covid-19 could be traced back to the hospitality sector. Yet, hospitality has suffered immensely and disproportionately, including those businesses, like breweries, that supply it.

Despite some government support for pubs, we have seen one country pub near Grantham was quoted in the Daily Mail saying how lockdown cost them £90,000 over the year, one of my favourites in Grantham, the Nobody Inn, said on Facebook it had gone 195 days without opening.

Another, the Geese and Fountain at Croxton Kerrial, has lamented the strife lockdown has cause them, not been able to trade and still having to pay rent, and another favourite, Beerheadz in Grantham, due to the size of the micro-pub was open just a few days before it had to close for the November lockdown, which due to the tiers and third lockdown have meant continued closure since then.

And the hassle, the heartbreak they have all suffered, has been all for nothing. Hardly any lives, if any, will have been saved by such continued closure. But businesses have folded and hundreds of thousands of hospitality workers have lost their jobs.

Now, imagine if there had been a political leader from one of the big parties who had fought against such government follies, someone who had stood behind the workers, something which by tradition their party is meant to.

Much as we might criticise Boris Johnson and his excessive caution over Covid-19 and lockdown- something perhaps fuelled by own life-threatening experience with the virus a year ago- in our opposition leader Keir Starmer, we see something of a 'Covid-19 lap dog who didn't bark.'

Here was a chance for the hapless Sir Keir to make his mark, speak out against the government attacking our freedoms, our small businesses. He could have championed the 'workers' whose customer facing roles suffered disproportionately from lockdown, especially their young and ethnic-minority employees. Instead, he bottled it, and fell into line, wanting lockdown harder, sooner, faster and for longer.

Now, helped by the seasonal nature of Covid-19, where it tends to peak in the winter and flatten off over the summer, we see the case and death numbers tumble significantly. Yes, vaccines have helped immensely, if not almost completely, so it was bizarre to see a bumbling Boris say it was lockdowns that were behind our latest figures, rather than what seems his government's sole success throughout the pandemic.

Rutland has only experienced one Covid-19 related death in the past 5 weeks. South Kesteven has also gone a month or so without a fatality. During several recent days, Rutland has also recorded no cases whatsoever. South Kesteven barely a handful.

Overall, the UK experienced just four deaths yesterday (Monday), two on Sunday and four on Saturday. England yesterday didn't have any Covid-related fatalities at all.

Yet, restrictions persist and flu and pneumonia are bigger killers than Covid-19. And that's before you even think of the daily deaths from cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other ailments, as government and the political class pursue a Covid-19 first strategy at the expense of everything else.

The total number of deaths of all causes have now reportedly fallen below average, as if to confirm all the pandemic did was bring deaths forward a year or so.

I agree, the numbers are and have been distressing, but the average age of someone dying with Covid is in their early 80s, and higher than the average life expectancy.

Instead, we need to also think about those that will die because they missed out on their treatments due to central government's obsession with Covid, and the exploding hospital waiting lists in its wake.

I accept, I am going against the grain, certainly for much of the media, whose views might be helped by central government deciding to spend hundreds of millions more on Covid-19 advertising, as if the pandemic and the lockdowns are to continue as 'conspiracy theorists' often say it will. It will even spend £320 million more in the coming year on top of what it spent in 2020.

But it was once a conspiracy theory to say we would see 'Covid Passports' but they are coming in here later this month, adding to those that now exist in some countries already.

It would have been conspiracy to believe there would be mass vaccination of children- who are in little or no danger from Covid-19- but that is also spoken of for the autumn, along with regular 'top ups' for the elderly and vulnerable, as if our super-duper vaccines afford only a few months protection. Still, at least Pfizer and co are set to make a pretty penny.

Fortunately some media and academics are waking up to the fact that lockdowns don't work. There is no clear link between shutting a country and saving lives. There appears no link between masks and infections also. Indeed, that was government policy until for some reason, it changed its minds last year.

In the meantime, all I can advise is for you to read widely, don't just stick to the tv news. I have been enjoying websites like Lockdown Sceptics . Planet Normal from Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson of the Daily Telegraph is also worth a listen.

Fortunately, at least the government appears to have run out of excuses for not pressing ahead with its roadmap, with the figures I have outlined. Who would have thought those 'three weeks to save the NHS' would last into the following summer, making their earlier claims even less truthful than the famously historic claims of 'the war been over by Christmas.'

Who would have thought we would have to wait until hugging became legal again and we would see articles advising us how to do it safely.

Thankfully, next week, barring any last-minute changes, I will be able to sit in another of my favourite pubs enjoying a pint, and if the weather hasn't changed, be in front of its lovely fire!

• This is an updated and amended version of a newsletter-only article sent out with our newsletter on Friday. If you want lively opinion and a round-up of the week's news, sign up using the coloured box on the homepage.