If there is a sequel to The Truman Show, which starred the extraordinary Jim Carrey as a man whose entire life is a TV series, I should be sure to get the part. Over the course of lockdown, as a so-called “shielded” person, I have been Citrix-d, Duo’d, Googled, Skyped, Teamed and Zoomed. My life has revolved around people looking at me on laptops and mobile phones. It has been a novel experience, since before this I had only heard of WhatsApp, Skype and Blackberry Messenger. As my hardworking young apprentice, Dan Swords, said to me in the early days: “Rob, Skype is so 2005. You need to get learning – and quick.”

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I remember the run-up to lockdown well. I had done most of my shopping in the pre-panic panicky days in early March, when I stocked up on essentials such as West Indian hot pepper sauce and stocks of Haribo. It also seems fitting, given that this is the Catholic Herald, to make a confession: in my last visit to Harlow town centre, in a completely irrational moment, I purchased a large number of packets of pot noodles from Poundland. I am glad to say most have provided me with a hearty lockdown lunch.

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My freedom effectively ended on March 19. I had organised a morning meeting with local community organisations to help prepare for what was to come. None of us in the room knew at that time just how serious things were going to be. I had started getting text messages from the NHS saying that I was identified as a “clinically vulnerable” person (I have a walking disability) and should stay at home. Other text messages would pop up: “Please leave a bag at the door in case you need to go to hospital.” While I knew these were mass texts being sent to many people, it was still a little scary. The NHS letter came in April, confirming what the texts had already told me. Soon the messages dried up, which I was glad about, but I started to wonder what was going on.

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In the few early days of lockdown, I was somewhat discombobulated: after all, being an MP is a people job.

I decided to pull myself together and start a strict regime. I get up every day, Monday to Saturday, between 05.30 and 06.00, starting with a round of exercises, including walking up and down my garden with one stick instead of two.

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On March 24, the chairlift broke in my house, having worked almost perfectly for more than 10 years. It took nearly five weeks to fix, as the company that originally supplied it went bust. But it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I now walk up the stairs with gusto. I dress smartly each day at home and pack a briefcase at night with my computer, bringing it upstairs to where I work and taking it downstairs again in the evening.

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The first few weeks of lockdown were horrific for my local residents. Endless health worries, financial anxieties and family stresses were flooding into my inbox and online surgeries. I understand why the Government’s focus was on health and avoiding destitution. Had the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, not come up with the grants and the furlough schemes, I dread to think what would have happened. But of course not everyone was able to be helped or supported. My job was to be relentless in lobbying ministers to try to get their cases heard.

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This was especially true in education, my passion in politics. Before Easter, as chair of the Commons education committee, I campaigned hard for catch-up funding for vulnerable children. Academic studies suggest that more than two million pupils have not been learning during the lockdown – a national disaster. The recent announcement of an extra £1bn from the Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, was very necessary. We are going to need a national programme of catch-up.

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By the time you read this, I will have been “unshielded”, and I can’t wait to enjoy the freedoms that for too long we have taken for granted. At the end of The Truman Show, the reality TV director says to Truman, who is leaving his artificial existence, “You are live to the whole world.” I think I now know what he meant.

Robert Halfon is the Conservative MP for Harlow

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