It’s tempting to bend quarantine rules to take a foreign holiday, but now is not the time to be selfish

The ‘Dublin Dodge’ means you can book your return flight to the Irish capital with an immediate connection back to the UK from there and avoid the imposition of self-isolation. But this isn’t a time to think only of your own whims, writes Lucie McInerney

Transfer window: passengers changing planes at Heathrow will be exempt from the quarantine policy (Heathrow Airport)

We all knew it was coming for a long time. So when Priti Patel, thus far the only woman to front a No 10 daily press briefing, appeared at the podium and announced the implementation of a 14-day quarantine period for anyone coming into the UK as of 8 June, no one was surprised. Disappointed, perplexed and confused this wasn’t enacted months ago, many of us found ourselves screaming at the television: “Why didn’t you do this in March?!”

Now, without any mention of when it might end or the terms under which the government would seek to lift these measures, we are left with the sensation that we’ll never be able to get off this island.

The end of holidays – abroad at least – and having no idea when they might happen again means we are left without something to look forward to; a high point to work towards that makes the low points bearable. Never more so have we all been in need of something to hope for.