COVID COPING CHRONICLE No. 9 May 20, 2020
Posted by markswill in Corona Lockdown Lore, Media, Politics, Schmolitics.trackback
I’ve put-off scribbling this blog for several days, largely because my anger at the deceit and ineptitude that characterises the government’s handling of the pandemic grows with every passing day’s dismal news, rendering it harder and harder to offer even a vaguely objective commentary on the situation. That hasn’t changed, but when Tory apologists such as Lord Sugar widely disseminate statements like the following on social media I feel moved to offer a counter–invective of my own.
Of course it’s the duty of the media to challenge our elected politicians, and even more so when the stake are so high, and Sugar should be ashamed of himself for suggesting otherwise. But then both Alistair Campbell and Tony Blair – neither of whom I usually have any time for, and Ken Clarke, who I do – have pointed out, and I’m paraphrasing, that the current cabinet are all lightweights chosen for their subservience to bumbling Boris and his Brexit mantra. Raab, Hancock, Patel etc. are strangers the great offices of state or indeed have little wider socio-cultural grounding, the latter essential in understanding the human cost of a country going through a massive crisis, the former essential in managing it. Moreover as the parliamentary Science & Technology Committee now tersely concludes, there is “no transparency” in what is guiding ministers in dealing with the pandemic, and “it will be difficult to corroborate the government’s assertion that it always follows scientific advice.” With minutes of SAGE meetings not published – or even a full list of its members – as the incoming president of the Royal Society, Sir Adrian Smith, noted in yesterday’s Times, there remains an “extraordinary amount of uncertainty” in how decisions are being made. Which is key to our continued support of the government’s confused, often hugely damaging and apparently made-on-the-hoof strategy.
But there is no sign that even easy-going, I-don’t-work-weekends Boris is going to change key members of his inner cabinet even though some of them, Hancock in particular, are clearly exhausted and running out of excuses for their failures. And whilst I’m at it, apart from PMQs (at which Kier Starmer reliably and refreshingly punctures Boris’ bluster), or his twice-recorded speech to the nation ten days ago, our leader has been noticeably absent from press briefings or live media. Is he frit? Or too distracted plotting to blame the scientists or his bum-licking colleagues when the final reckoning comes? Is he too busy goo-gooing with young Wilfred? Or dashing between his various homes and playing much restorative tennis?
That almost shocking dereliction of duty in favour of a bunch of weary second- (or third-) divisioners and images of hitting balls across well-mowed lawns prompts another woeful observation: almost all the lockdown-easing measures thus far announced exclusively favour the well-off: you can play tennis, have your nanny, your estate agent or your cleaner into your house, whilst low-skilled (and paid) workers are allowed to pile onto public transport so that big business can sort-of resume operations, and schools will shortly be re-opened so that parents can return to work. Which is jolly nice for little privately educated Melinda and Dylan where high fees allow small classes and permit costly protective measures, but not much good if you’re a low-paid worker in a council flat obliged to send your kids to a broken-down inner city primary with 35 to a class.
And who is going to pick the fruit and veg our farmers are due to harvest, that is the ones who aren’t having to dump tens of thousands of gallons of milk and flog off at a loss prime beef and lamb due to the closure of commercial catering as we know it?
I could go on and on but you’re probably as sick of the double-standards, weasel words – e.g. ‘ramping up’, ‘straining every sinew’, ‘in the coming weeks’ – and growing public dismay at the rising and shocking death and infection tolls as I am. So I’ll stop now and once again remind you that other, more assiduously forensic critics are on offer if you are as angry, and scared as I am, most notably Roslyn Byfield’s much more frequent outings at:
https://therapistinlockdown.co.uk/
No, it’s not going to go away, but until it does, if it ever does, I shall still try and offer the odd uplift, and here are a couple of decent ones.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/KgoapkOo4vg?rel=0&vq=highres
Mark's Sparks Will Fly Blog 
Mark its Handcock
Ooops, thanks Deborah, will correct. I blame the meds I’m on!
Sugar has a point, in that we should be supporting the government, warts and all. He does miss however that I (and I feel everyone else except tooth and nail Labour supprters, to whom I belong) want honesty and transparency. You could at a push say that the purchase of so many ventilators and the construction of the Nightingale hospitals was a mistake and a vast waste of money, but that is an area where allowances for the unknown unknowns should be made. Where it should not be made is; Membership of Sage (with list of financial interests) reports and minutes from meetings. Full disclosure of Models and tech/coding information. All reports on which lockdown conditions are made. The only exceptions to this should be on issues(of which there may be many) where public panic etc might be the result. These could be handled on a Privy Councilor Basis where we have to put our trust in Parliament to do the right thing on our behalf.
You also mention nothing of the fact that you actually live in Wales where a completely different set of politicians are responsible for even worse decisions and management. Read the link and see how badly the other nations are doing compared to England. It is site that is somewhat to the right, but it is sobering reading.
There is some information on here re the infection and testing rates across the UK
The devolved nation governments are failing their citizens. What was once a matter of “mere” economic, educational and health performance is now also a matter of life and death. Yet still the First and Health Ministers defend their performances.
I belong to the Labour Party and want the best for my country, but will not defend the indefensible. They should be resigning.
I agree with the sentiment of Sugars statement…which came as a shock to me since I cant stand the bloke. But he put into words my own feeling about events which have led to me actively ignoring the press briefings now. I was getting fed up with the journalistic lust for sensation rather than sentience. I don’t actually think that any politician wants to feel responsible for any more deaths and so will try to take the best choices presented by this novel situation. I think we should just let our elected leaders get on with it and then have a big wash up afterwards. Who knows what is the best way to tackle this? Its time to put aside our life-learnt political leanings, pull together and then sort it out later.