I almost made it to the end of my scan of the morning papers yesterday without blowing my top. I am quite resigned to Boris extending restrictions and an invasion of foreign variants of the coronavirus. The race is on between the Vietnamese and the Nepalese variants; at least the Indian variant will have some company. Thus, I have discovered the secret to happiness: lowered expectations.
But just as I was about to focus on my toast and coffee I spotted an article titled: ‘If you’re not jabbed, you’re not coming to dinner…’ by Kate Mulvey in The Daily Telegraph sub-titled ‘If you won’t have the vaccine, you’re no friend of mine’. It was tempting simply to reproduce the article in full here in all its self-righteous glory. It really is a shocker. Mulvey reckons that ‘vaccine-dodgers’ ought to be snubbed and become social outcasts. The tale was spun around her attending a dinner party. I was surprised to learn that people still hold dinner parties, events which I find distressing enough without—horror of horrors—being exposed to a vaccine-dodger. But this is exactly what happened to the unfortunate Ms Mulvey. I imagine the avocado and quinoa starter fell from her fork when someone present announced that she had not had either of the vaccines. Apparently, expressions around the table were ‘incredulous’ and an awkward silence ensued.
Ms Mulvey is not alone, apparently Countdown presenter Nick Hewer and host Adil Ray announced on Good Morning Britain that they were, similarly, going to ostracise former friends who had not had the vaccine. Mulvey was so happy when she saw this that she ‘nearly punched the air’. I too felt like punching something on reading her article, but it was not the air. Who on earth do these people think they are, why do they feel entitled to sit in judgement on the rest of us? The delightful Ms Mulvey fills the rest of the article recounting the number of friends who are vaccine-dodgers to whom she no longer speaks. And she seems proud to recount how she is the one to sever contact. Referring to one friend, clearly someone suffering from anxiety, after establishing her negative view of the vaccine she says: ‘I have not returned her calls since.’ Is anyone else getting the impression that Ms Mulvey is a less than pleasant person?
I wonder how all this is going to work? Will these middle-class meddlers require proof of vaccination along with their invitations, will they take it at face value if someone says they have been vaccinated or will they check guests on arrival and eject the refuseniks? It is a complete affront to decency and none of anyone’s business what medical procedures anyone else has had. Would they enquire about your haemorrhoids or ask someone if they were using Viagra? There has been some pushback. On Good Morning Britain Dominique Samuels accused those cancelling anti-jabbers of ‘snobbery’. This caused miserable Mulvey almost to choke on her croissant. Well, Ms Mulvey, do not let me stand in your way…have another croissant. Despite being a vaccine recipient myself at least I know—should I ever receive one—how to get out of my next dinner party invitation.
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