This edition of Wordwatch ought to be celebrating John Keats, who died at the age of 25 in Rome two hundred years ago, on the 23rd February. It wasn’t Covid that got him, of course, but the scourge of those times, tuberculosis, or consumption. Afflictions almost more terrifying as there was no treatment for them – except the warmer Italian air, which did poor Keats no good at all. And some people thought colder air was the answer: hospitals were built in the mountains, as vividly described in Thomas Mann’s 1924 novel The Magic Mountain. Thankfully, we seem to be on a more promising track with Covid now, and we must hope as we begin Lent that Easter this year will indeed realise the “crocus of hope pushing up through the frost” which the Prime Minister so memorably evoked for us the other day. Talking of Lent, my local parish church has been spreading the love by distributing “Lent bags”,  which we’ve been invited to make use of during the season of reflection and self-assessment that remembers Christ’s forty days in the wilderness. I’ve been investigating the contents of those Lent bags; a palm cross, a small stone, a tiny roundel of glass mirror, and a sheet of paper calling itself “a Take a Compliment poster” for duplication and passing on to neighbours. Here is some of it: “dear you, yes … YOU are AMAZING! Have a beautiful day!” There are tearable strips with sentiments such as: “you are worth it”, “you are talented”, “your smile is beautiful”, “you are treasured”, “you can make it happen”, “you are unique”.