Peter Rhodes on artists' impressions, the price of fame and a false sense of security

Artists' impressions of development projects demand fine graphic skills, a great sense of perspective - and an enormous pinch of salt. Time after time the artists create magnificent paintings of a promised housing estate or shopping mall which we all know will bear no relation to the finished project.

My eye was caught by the drawings of the proposed £55 million Westside development in the centre of Wolverhampton, but the same applies to artists' impressions everywhere. I bet you've all seen a few.

According to the Wolverhampton pictures, the people using Westside are overwhelmingly slim, chic and under-60. There are no wheelchairs, no mobility scooters, nobody over 14 stone. Elegant groups sit around coffee tables, as if debating the finer points of Proust. And you can't help noticing that in this vision of Wolverhampton there's not a single Wolves scarf in sight, not a hint of graffiti, no dogs and no big, angry bloke clutching his lager and asking: “Oi, who you lookin' at?” It's all very enchanting but it's hardly the Wolverhampton we know and love and Wulfrunians are far too hard-headed to believe everything they see on a poster. Artists' impressions – art for the impressionable?

I wonder if Maggie Keenan has any idea how famous she is. The 90-year-old had an injection in Coventry before dawn on Tuesday, becoming the first person in the world to receive a fully-tested anti-Covid vaccine. I'm sure the NHS media machine told her to expect lots of cameras and reporters on the day. But did anyone explain to her that from now on every aspect of Mrs Keenan's life is of public interest? Within 24 hours of the injection, Google had 2.8 million references to her.

From now on, if she develops the mildest cough or sniffle, it will be front-page news. Her first holiday, shopping trip, unmasked meeting with her loved ones will bring more headlines. And anything involving those loved ones will be deemed newsworthy because of their relationship to “Britain's first Covid-jab patient.”

Like Lotto winners, reality-TV stars and Captain Tom Moore, Maggie Keenan has become a public figure. Fame can bring great happiness. But while you may enjoy fame, you can never control it.

Meanwhile, the vaccinating of Mrs Keenan and all the millions behind her in the queue will work only if people continue to take precautions. Given the scenes at Nottingham when unmasked hordes rubbed cheek-by-jowl with each other at the city's fair, don't you get the impression that some people think the pandemic is over? It isn't. For most folk, the injection is months away, yet you can catch Covid-19, suffer from it and perish in just a few days. It's as contagious in December as it was in March and the biggest danger now is a false sense of security. Mask up. Wash well. Keep your distance. Avoid idiots.