Thanks for nothing
I am glad to say that our avenue in Hull, a tree-lined, bohemian, left-wing voting bastion of tree-huggers and assorted virtue-signallers did not participate in Thank You Day. I was pleasantly surprised because, largely, we (they!) were out clapping and banging pots during the Clap for Our Carers nonsense. Rainbows adorn most windows on the avenue, obscured for a while only by ‘Vote Labour’ or ‘Vote Liberal Democrat’ posters during the recent local elections. But I also must admit I did not even know Thank You Day was going to be a thing until a fellow local lockdown sceptic alerted me to it and urged me to write something about it.
My friend had seen it in the Waitrose Weekend magazine (for these are the kinds of friends I have) so I headed directly to Waitrose under the pretence of buying some necessities such as wine, beer and spirits. My real intention was to get a copy of the magazine, verify the source and report. And good God, there it was on the second page. A motely assortment of the rich and famous including Bear Grylls, Michael Sheen, Dame Judi Dench, Raheem Sterling and, not to be left out of any cause that will prove his good intentions, COVID-19 mask sceptic, Gary Lineker. Wimbledon, no stranger to this kind of thing, joined in. Apparently a huge national ‘thank you’ card designed by the illustrator Charlie Mackesy and signed by schoolchildren was unveiled at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.
The proposed Thank You Day activities were just a lamentable list of middle-class meddling muddle. Up early for a limber in the park, a ‘community power hour’ of picking up litter followed by a Big Lunch street party. Early evening ‘raise a glass’ (or a mug)* to say Cheers for Volunteers. Clearly with the Union Flag being lowered finally in Afghanistan (until next time) Ross Kemp has some time on his hands; he led the cheers. Then late evening it was barbecue time with Levi Roots—creator of a condiment so disgusting I can hardly bear to be in the same room as an open bottle—when you could share a burger (or a veggie skewer)*. Remarkably, it did not contain precise instructions on when we could go to bed. Are we to assume we could go on thanking people into the small hours? Do these people not realise we are in the middle of a pandemic? And I kept the best for last. At 3pm we were instructed to sing Don’t Stop by Fleetwwod Mac on our doorsteps or—and I cannot believe I am repeating this—outside a care home. As if the residents of our care homes did not have enough problems without some awful racket just at the time when most sensible folk will be taking an afternoon nap.
So, thanks for what? Not much as far as I am concerned. I am incredibly grateful to the shop workers and delivery drivers, the refuse collectors and tradesmen who have kept going throughout the pandemic. If I could clap for a few of them I might just consider it. But I refuse now to clap or thank, as I refused to in 2020, any aspect of the NHS. It has been revealed—if ever revelation was needed—as an organ of state oppression. It is an attention-seeking, hectoring, bullying and capricious organisation. I believe, but cannot confirm, that approximately 20% of NHS staff were busy for a very short time with COVID-19 related care. A great many, like the therapists who cancelled my appointments, did nothing for months. The mainstream media focused on the hospitals that were busy and not on the ones that were coping. The Nightingale hospitals were never used. Yet the NHS whinged and moaned throughout about being ‘overwhelmed’, stressed and demoralised. And then had the audacity to ask for a pay rise and are turning their noses up at 1%.
As far as I am concerned the offer was 1% too much. Why should people who had secure jobs throughout the pandemic, were not furloughed and many of whom never encountered a COVID-19 patient get a pay rise? Millions had to live on reduced salaries, some on none and 500,000 people have lost their jobs. The NHS is one of the largest workforces in the world and we are already experiencing inflation. The UK government has been creating derivatives like they are going out of style, the last thing they need is an excuse to create more. And Her Majesty seems to have lost her royal marbles and decided to award the NHS the George Cross. The other time the medal was awarded collectively was to Malta. The island was besieged for over two years and suffered over 3,000 bombing raids by the Luftwaffe and Italians in addition to bombardment from the sea. They suffered immense damage and loss of over 1000 civilian lives. That is what I call ‘overwhelmed’.
We were asked to save the NHS and what did we get in return? According to A state of fear by Laura Dodsworth, in figures (from UK.GOV) that are already out of date:
- 32,000 excess deaths among adults in social care by end March 2021
- 18,000 deaths due to cancelled operations
- 10,000 deaths due to disruption of emergency care
- 4,000 deaths due to not seeking help.
I used to think Stockholm syndrome was a myth…until I discovered Smirnoff.
*the content in brackets is taken verbatim, including the brackets, from the Waitrose article.
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