Feeling Angry
I am angry. My anger is growing by the day, with each blind alley, dead end, U -turn in this surreal "roadmap" proposed for easing the lockdown . Is this Government deliberately trying to get us lost? Because the only clear direction I can read in this map is 'you're on your own, folks'
Surely the responsibility for dealing with this pandemic should lie with those elected to lead us. Our country has a proud history of democratically elected Parliament, a legislative body in whom we gift power and control over our lives. The UK places complete trust in its Government to to govern. To guide us through this unknown territory. To listen to the science. To make complex life and death decisions on the way forward. Not to abandon us in a tangled web of confusion, contradictions, chaos.
Is this a diversion tactic, designed to avert criticism? Is this conspiracy theory talk? If it is, it is one increasingly shared amongst media commentators, social media, and in the voices of us ordinary people feeling cast adrift into stormy waters without a life belt let alone a life raft.
In easing the lockdown without clear guidance Boris Johnson has split the country asunder. Now we have lost our collective purpose, and our motto, to stay safe, individuals scatter this way and that, each searching for the best way out, heading in diverse directions, unsure of what lies ahead.
Decisions about life and death should not be handed over with the instruction to rely on common sense. To quote Bertrand Russell 'Most people would rather die than think, and many of them often do' . This is not to imply judgements, more that this quote so neatly illustrates the complexity of choices without context and information. In this current crisis people are being asked to make impossible life or death decisions without the knowledge to make them safely.
It is hard to escape an inevitable fear of another surge in infection, given the only tool we have at our fingertips, our only safety net, is social distancing. Even with everyone's best intentions and the best will in the world it was obvious immediately the return to work began that this was unworkable. Even if it can be done in a workplace commuting is fraught with dangers. How long before people begin blaming those perceived to be thoughtless? How long before people to turn on each other when their safety is compromised?
Now this Government has decreed a wide range of businesses can open, the onus is on us to stay safe out there in an increasingly busy world. How? Imagine every person you can see has raw chicken on their hands. Would you want to pick up a discarded item? Would you want to put your fingers on a card payment machine? I do not want to open my own front door, let alone one strangers have poured through before me. I am lucky in that I do not have to make those choices but others will and that makes me angry.
Everywhere the seeds of discord are growing. Pre schools and nurseries are keen to charge parents fees now they have permission to open from June 1st, demanding monies even from those who feel it is too early to send their children back. Workplaces are telling employees childcare is no reason to not return to work, forcing parents to make life or death decisions it should not be up to them to make.
If social distancing is our only protection, surely sending toddlers and young children into environments where this is obviously impossible is tantamount to making them and their parents/carers walk the plank without knowing what lies in the deep dark waters below. This virus is too recent to know anything for sure, the statistics imply children are not susceptible but no child is a statistic, every one is a precious gift.
I absolutely appreciate the need to kickstart our economy. Money is the bedrock of our society, it is the tie that binds families, neighbourhoods, culture, society. It is vital to acknowledge the centrality of our economy to our everyday live. But easing the lockdown to release industry and commerce in such a haphazard way is surely irresponsible.
I am angry on behalf of everyone up and down the country facing individual unenviable decisions about their work, their childcare, the consequences on their lives. I count my blessings neither I nor anyone I love have yet had to make impossibles choices but the time may come and at what cost.
I am angry because I am heartbroken that my dream of reuniting with my family is still out of reach, still glimmering out there on the horizon. Despite the fact that I can now sell my house, buy another, hire a cleaner, a childminder, visit a garden centre, a market stall, this Government has signalled that it is not yet safe for grandparents and grandchildren to meet other than on a one to one basis outside within social distancing rules.
OF COURSE IT IS NOT SAFE. The brutal fact is that neither is showing strangers around houses, letting in a cleaner, opening schools, etc ,etc...there is a basic illogicality to this new road map no one in officialdom has even tried to explain. It has been left to satirists to sum up just how ludicrous the situation is, as well just plain sad.
Plus , given the current focus on the country's economy, there is another storm looming. In a matter of weeks, by the end of June, is the final deadline for any Brexit transition extension request, otherwise the UK leaves on Dec 31st, with or without a deal.
Previously Boris Johnson has pledged not to extend the transition, although rumours are rife now that the UK may ask for another 6 months given the unforeseen global pandemic and the inevitable suspension of trade deal talks, why not ask for the maximum 2 years? If/when a deal is agreed we can still leave at any time within this period so what would be the harm?
In normal times, pre coronavirus, verdicts were divided on the long term benefits of Brexit but unanimous on short term disruption and negative economic impact. The eventual vote went to long term gain over short term pain but that was before. Surely now even this Brexit focused government should be considering the speed of our exit, given our economy is already flat lining?
Here's a thought..if us ordinary mortals now have to decide if it is safe to head back to work, to send our young children into schools, to climb onto a crowded bus or a tightly packed tube, how about asking our opinions. If our 'great British common sense' is enough to guide the country out of lockown then why not trust us to make a common sense decision on a Brexit extension review.
More conspiracy theories talking, maybe, but I have a horrible feeling that avoidance of discussion, lack of headlines, no new storm forecast, might be deliberate. I hope I am wrong because we are the everyday folk at the mercy of the virus, at the mercy of the economy, and we deserve to be treated with respect.
I feel angry because I feel helpless. In 2020 this Government was elected with a landslide majority on the back of 43% of votes cast, which translates to 29% of the total electorate. Not exactly a ringing endorsement but as a result of this election we now have a Government with total power and control over our lives. Regardless of party politics, it has a job to do, which is to govern. Whether I agree with the road ahead it chooses or not, the roadmap should show directions to a destination not a vague. shadowy, unreadable blur.
I so hope I am wrong. I hope I am wrong about everything. I hope that comments flood in with rational context to reassure my overwrought mind. The last few months have brought so much emotion, fear, anxiety, sadness, boredom, rainbow moments of unexpected pleasures but never, until this week, anger. Anger is a destructive emotion, it brings out the worst in people, myself included. I hate feeling angry.
I am angry. My anger is growing by the day, with each blind alley, dead end, U -turn in this surreal "roadmap" proposed for easing the lockdown . Is this Government deliberately trying to get us lost? Because the only clear direction I can read in this map is 'you're on your own, folks'
Surely the responsibility for dealing with this pandemic should lie with those elected to lead us. Our country has a proud history of democratically elected Parliament, a legislative body in whom we gift power and control over our lives. The UK places complete trust in its Government to to govern. To guide us through this unknown territory. To listen to the science. To make complex life and death decisions on the way forward. Not to abandon us in a tangled web of confusion, contradictions, chaos.
Is this a diversion tactic, designed to avert criticism? Is this conspiracy theory talk? If it is, it is one increasingly shared amongst media commentators, social media, and in the voices of us ordinary people feeling cast adrift into stormy waters without a life belt let alone a life raft.
In easing the lockdown without clear guidance Boris Johnson has split the country asunder. Now we have lost our collective purpose, and our motto, to stay safe, individuals scatter this way and that, each searching for the best way out, heading in diverse directions, unsure of what lies ahead.
Decisions about life and death should not be handed over with the instruction to rely on common sense. To quote Bertrand Russell 'Most people would rather die than think, and many of them often do' . This is not to imply judgements, more that this quote so neatly illustrates the complexity of choices without context and information. In this current crisis people are being asked to make impossible life or death decisions without the knowledge to make them safely.
It is hard to escape an inevitable fear of another surge in infection, given the only tool we have at our fingertips, our only safety net, is social distancing. Even with everyone's best intentions and the best will in the world it was obvious immediately the return to work began that this was unworkable. Even if it can be done in a workplace commuting is fraught with dangers. How long before people begin blaming those perceived to be thoughtless? How long before people to turn on each other when their safety is compromised?
Now this Government has decreed a wide range of businesses can open, the onus is on us to stay safe out there in an increasingly busy world. How? Imagine every person you can see has raw chicken on their hands. Would you want to pick up a discarded item? Would you want to put your fingers on a card payment machine? I do not want to open my own front door, let alone one strangers have poured through before me. I am lucky in that I do not have to make those choices but others will and that makes me angry.
Everywhere the seeds of discord are growing. Pre schools and nurseries are keen to charge parents fees now they have permission to open from June 1st, demanding monies even from those who feel it is too early to send their children back. Workplaces are telling employees childcare is no reason to not return to work, forcing parents to make life or death decisions it should not be up to them to make.
If social distancing is our only protection, surely sending toddlers and young children into environments where this is obviously impossible is tantamount to making them and their parents/carers walk the plank without knowing what lies in the deep dark waters below. This virus is too recent to know anything for sure, the statistics imply children are not susceptible but no child is a statistic, every one is a precious gift.
I absolutely appreciate the need to kickstart our economy. Money is the bedrock of our society, it is the tie that binds families, neighbourhoods, culture, society. It is vital to acknowledge the centrality of our economy to our everyday live. But easing the lockdown to release industry and commerce in such a haphazard way is surely irresponsible.
I am angry on behalf of everyone up and down the country facing individual unenviable decisions about their work, their childcare, the consequences on their lives. I count my blessings neither I nor anyone I love have yet had to make impossibles choices but the time may come and at what cost.
I am angry because I am heartbroken that my dream of reuniting with my family is still out of reach, still glimmering out there on the horizon. Despite the fact that I can now sell my house, buy another, hire a cleaner, a childminder, visit a garden centre, a market stall, this Government has signalled that it is not yet safe for grandparents and grandchildren to meet other than on a one to one basis outside within social distancing rules.
OF COURSE IT IS NOT SAFE. The brutal fact is that neither is showing strangers around houses, letting in a cleaner, opening schools, etc ,etc...there is a basic illogicality to this new road map no one in officialdom has even tried to explain. It has been left to satirists to sum up just how ludicrous the situation is, as well just plain sad.
Plus , given the current focus on the country's economy, there is another storm looming. In a matter of weeks, by the end of June, is the final deadline for any Brexit transition extension request, otherwise the UK leaves on Dec 31st, with or without a deal.
Previously Boris Johnson has pledged not to extend the transition, although rumours are rife now that the UK may ask for another 6 months given the unforeseen global pandemic and the inevitable suspension of trade deal talks, why not ask for the maximum 2 years? If/when a deal is agreed we can still leave at any time within this period so what would be the harm?
In normal times, pre coronavirus, verdicts were divided on the long term benefits of Brexit but unanimous on short term disruption and negative economic impact. The eventual vote went to long term gain over short term pain but that was before. Surely now even this Brexit focused government should be considering the speed of our exit, given our economy is already flat lining?
Here's a thought..if us ordinary mortals now have to decide if it is safe to head back to work, to send our young children into schools, to climb onto a crowded bus or a tightly packed tube, how about asking our opinions. If our 'great British common sense' is enough to guide the country out of lockown then why not trust us to make a common sense decision on a Brexit extension review.
More conspiracy theories talking, maybe, but I have a horrible feeling that avoidance of discussion, lack of headlines, no new storm forecast, might be deliberate. I hope I am wrong because we are the everyday folk at the mercy of the virus, at the mercy of the economy, and we deserve to be treated with respect.
I feel angry because I feel helpless. In 2020 this Government was elected with a landslide majority on the back of 43% of votes cast, which translates to 29% of the total electorate. Not exactly a ringing endorsement but as a result of this election we now have a Government with total power and control over our lives. Regardless of party politics, it has a job to do, which is to govern. Whether I agree with the road ahead it chooses or not, the roadmap should show directions to a destination not a vague. shadowy, unreadable blur.
I so hope I am wrong. I hope I am wrong about everything. I hope that comments flood in with rational context to reassure my overwrought mind. The last few months have brought so much emotion, fear, anxiety, sadness, boredom, rainbow moments of unexpected pleasures but never, until this week, anger. Anger is a destructive emotion, it brings out the worst in people, myself included. I hate feeling angry.
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