My friend Tracey Emin is an inspiration – she has the strength we all need at the moment

It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the pandemic and its effects but attempting to stay positive really helps, writes Janet Street-Porter

Tracey Emin at an exhibition of her work in London last year (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)

The C word has dominated my life for months. Covid-19, Cancer, and now Christmas.

My friend Tracey Emin discovered she could die from an aggressive form of cancer before the end of the year. My ex-husband, and close friend, Tony, died having faced up to the disease for a long time. I was diagnosed with skin cancer and had to wait months through lockdown for surgery. And now we're told that 50,000 cancer cases remain undiagnosed because the pandemic continues to disrupt NHS treatment and support.

As Covid-19 infections continue to rise and local lockdowns increase, the government dithers about whether to impose a national circuit breaker in England and follow the more stringent measures already imposed in the rest of the UK. France and Germany have taken this route. With a debate raging about the impact this would have on the economy and our mental health, another C word becomes important. Should we have the right to decide whether to accept CONTROL by the state or the right to CHOOSE what risks to take in our daily lives, if we accept the rules of mask wearing and social distancing?