Off-grid mum admits she’s flouting coronavirus lockdown but she WOULD take her kids to hospital for the flu
SEEING the coronavirus daily death figures, most of the UK are gripped by panic - desperate for the pandemic to resolve and prepared to do anything to make it happen.
So families stay inside and the streets are free of kids.
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Well, except for one road in Brighton, East Sussex, where lockdown may as well be a dirty word.
There lives jobless ‘off-grid mum’ Adele Allen, her husband Matt and three children Ulysses, nine, Ostara, four, and Kai, 18 months.
Adele has admitted she isn’t really following lockdown - and she doesn’t care who knows it.
Trips to the park and seaside, hanging around outside and sprawling in the sunshine - it’s all fine.
“It’s just the government’s way of controlling us,” she told Fabulous in an exclusive interview.
The 36-year-old, whose daughter Ostara famously urinated live on This Morning, knows her cavalier approach to the coronavirus pandemic will infuriate people but she doesn’t care.
Since becoming a mum in her late 20s, she’s done her own thing and has even adopted a child-led way of parenting.
Lockdown is just the government’s way of controlling us
Adele Allen
Adele and Matt let the kids decide everything from what time they go to bed (usually around 9pm for Ostara but often as late as midnight for Ulysses), whether they brush their teeth (occasionally) and if they are going to go to school (no, never).
The kids, despite their young ages, are treated like adults - dictating if, when and what they eat.
Meanwhile, Adele is a firm advocate of extended breastfeeding (she fed Ulysses until he was five) and disapproves of medication.
She has not vaccinated any of her children, going so far as to say even if they were to visit a malaria-hit region they would not get the necessary jabs.
She wouldn’t get any future coronavirus vaccination. “I just don’t think it’s necessary,” she said. “The body has its own immune system and I trust in that.
"In fact, the coronavirus vaccine is the least likely vaccine I would consider as it has been rushed through development and missed important stages of safety testing.
"My family are not big pharma’s guinea pigs and neither should anyone else’s be."
I would only take my kids to hospital in the event of an emergency. It is very unlikely that I would not take my kids into hospital for flu-like symptoms
Adele Allen
Asked whether she'd take her kids to hospital if they were struck down with coronavirus, she said she'd only do so in the case of an emergency - but doesn't rule out going during the pandemic.
Adele said: "I would only take my kids to hospital in the event of an emergency which I felt I could not handle myself.
"It is very unlikely that I would not take my kids into hospital for flu-like symptoms."
And during lockdown, which started more than six weeks ago, Adele’s tried to stick to as normal a way of life for her and her family as possible.
They haven’t seen Matt’s mum who lives in Hertfordshire and supports their way of life, but still go out and about.
Adele is entirely anti the lockdown measures, thinks it is an overreaction and fears it is the government’s way of controlling the UK population.
“We are going out more than once a day,” she told us. “To the park, the shops and to walk the dog.
“We don’t have a car so it is unrealistic to expect us to just manage one trip out. We clearly need to make multiple trips.”
Adele and Matt attend regularly to the family allotment too.
“I don’t see why we wouldn’t go there,” she said. “It is essential that we keep the fruit and veg we’ve carefully nurtured growing and I am not going to stop going there because the government.”
Meanwhile, the family regularly visit Brighton beach, which is around a mile from their home in the Queens Park area of the city.
“Matt still swims in the sea every morning and hasn’t stopped once,” she said.
Brighton has been subject to numerous breaches of the coronavirus lockdown as day-trippers ignore government guidelines to enjoy the seaside.
Sussex Police have been moving on residents who chose to sunbathe by the sea.
But Adele is furious about this.
“I can’t really see the issue with sunbathing,” she said. “It is known that it is good for your physical and mental health.
“If I didn’t have a garden I would definitely sunbathe.
“It’s crazy. If I saw the police stopping someone sunbathing, I would 100 per cent interject. It is an infringement of people’s liberties and appalling.
“People need to be out in nature.”
She’s happy to take her kids to local play parks too - but fuming that equipment has been cordoned off as per guidelines.
“Activity is important for people,” she continued. “It helps them and to take it away is appalling - like living in a Nazi regime.”
I can’t really see the issue with sunbathing - if I didn't have a garden I would definitely do it
Adele Allen
It was on this basis Adele publicly announced she would reduce her council tax payments.
Writing on Instagram, she said: “We are so fortunate to be blessed with a lovely garden where we can create our own play park.
"As for all public parks being closed, the council can expect my council tax contribution to be reduced accordingly whilst this episode of the hunger games continues…
"Enjoy the sunshine everyone!"
She told how she would reduce the amount she paid, despite receiving a three-bed council house.
The family’s argument is they don’t use many of the public facilities other people use. Adele had a home birth, the children don’t go to school and they never go to the doctors or hospital.
“I’d go to hospital in an emergency - if it was life or death - but that’s it,” said Adele.
“So I think we should get the house on benefits and I think we should be entitled to pay less council tax when facilities are taken away.
“There are no play parks, no libraries - what are we paying for?”
Asked about how she felt seeing sick people in hospital - and knowing medics were putting their lives on the line during the coronavirus pandemic, Adele said: “People still need to be out in nature.
“This is like George Orwell’s 1984. People are having their rights taken away.
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“And if I was a small business owner and I was being told to shut, I would be furious.
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"We get on really well with all the neighbours on our street and as far as I know no-one has a problem with how much we go out.
"I’ve even put a protest sign outside my house saying ‘end the lockdown’ and we’ve had no one take issue with this."