Life after lockdown

Good lord I think I’m actually going mad. Avid readers of this blog (of which I know there is at least zero) will recall when, at one week into lockdown, I noted how I had memorised much of Chiles main cities by staring at my world map: friends, I fear things have got worse, as I can add Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay to what is now an increasingly growing list.

Perhaps some more nutritious food for thought at this stage in lockdown is to consider where we go from here as we look forward to reintegrating ourselves into life after lockdown: namely, what have we learnt? What can we takeaway moving forward?

Certainly, I think it is inarguable that this pandemic has proven the necessity for a properly funded and resourced NHS, something Boris Johnson has now, I hope, realised from first hand experience. Indeed, the public seems to be rather fond of old Bojo, giving him an incredibly high favourability rating and seeing his Conservatives as high as 55% in the polls. If there’s one thing I hope doesn’t continue following this pandemic (and there are actually many things) it’s this blind new fandom for a government doing the bare minimum: a very irritatingly British habit.

It is, in this writers view, utterly inconsistent to be applauding the NHS every Thursday and still vigorously support a Prime Minister and Party who for the last decade have brought the organisation to its knees; denying pay rise after pay rise to the very same people they laude as heroes.

Truly, giving the Tories any credit for the manor in which the country has been able to come together and empathise with each other, or the way the NHS has so magnificently and bravely responded to this pandemic is a bit like thanking the Nazis for surrendering in World War 2: oh yes, we’ll forgive you for doing nothing and killing untold numbers of people in previous years because we see you outside downing street clapping for a minute on Thursday!

Rather, then, it is the spirit of kindness and empathy that we should carry forward; treating this pandemic as a frightening reminder of the fragility of human life. Let us not congratulate the long term orchestrators of death but the long term preservers of life.