Opinion | Tiger King on Netflix and other things to enjoy under lockdown – good news in bad times

There’s no point pretending, the cascade of pandemic news is starting to get to me and, I’m sure, everyone else. Anxiety is up, optimism is down and the economy is flat­lining. Given the state of things, it can be hard to see any upside at the moment, and too easy to see levity as downplaying the situation or being glib and uncaring. All of which makes writing columns like this pretty tricky.

But we can’t let the virus win.

So this week’s column is all about good vibes, focusing on positive news, the moments of joy and the downright hilarious things that have happened recently.

To add an extra layer of difficulty, I will use the structure of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon parlour game to thread together these happy vignettes. All good things should end with Kevin Bacon.

Let’s start with some good news that’s very close to home. I got married last month. There were face masks, elbow bumps instead of hand­shakes and hugs, and social distancing – the whole nine yards. Quarantine etiquette meant physically exchanging rings wasn’t on the agenda and kissing the bride was verboten, but love finds a way.

 Of course, owing to the circumstances, it was a drastically small affair, but we made it work and the suspension of international flights meant the mother-in-law couldn’t make it. The wedding pictures are hila­rious, so much so I want to send them to John Krasinski.