Diana Wichtel on the new normal and how it is quickly undone by presidential falsehoods and mutating viruses 19 Feb, 2021 03:00 AM 4 minutes to read Political theatre or reality? Photo / Getty Images By: Diana Wichtel It was a weekend of the Big Gay Out, the Americas Cup … We spent time with friends, out and about, scanning and masking as required. We were living, if not the dream, then at least our slightly nervous nearly normal. Then the country was back into degrees of lockdown. Later that day my mobile suddenly emitted a nerve-shredding eldritch shriek of the sort you might expect if being alerted to a nuclear facility in core meltdown. I swear I levitated half a metre off the couch. Still, effective public health communication, for sure.