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Tuesday 5 January 2021

Did we lock those gates ourselves?


Full lockdown in the UK starts today so we’re back to the dark days of March last year.

But with major differences. Today the infection rates and the death figures are far worse than they were then, and will worsen when the time-lagged statistics include those who flouted the rules at Christmas and New Year.

And yes, I’m aware the vaccines have arrived

Early last year we were under the cosh but there was a sense of communal purpose. For one thing the NHS was struggling to come to terms with this new menace and NHS employees were dying in their droves. (Many with names that suggested they were not born in the UK; a slap in the face for those who supported Brexit on an anti-immigration basis).

At a set time we emerged on our door-steps and solemnly clapped those whose sense of duty had taken them into oblivion. I’m not sure this will happen again.

Politicians desperate to avoid making unpleasant but necessary decisions have blurred that sense of unity. More people have ignored guidance with predictable results and the medical aftermath from those who joined their relations during the festive season is yet to be gauged.

Yes, the vaccines will save lives but this will take time. During which maskless, unjabbed people will assemble in amorphous and vulnerable blobs, fair game for that oh-so-clever virus. Blobs often with the best of motives, like those hugging each other after the Assange extradition decision.

Flirting with and/or committing suicide are personal decisions. Imposing that related death on others is not. In the USA, I believe, such an assault is called “wilful homicide”.

And then there are those – grabbing at the latest conspiracy theory – who will refuse their jabs. Human beings are so damn complicated.

8 comments:

  1. It's true human beings are so damn complicated. I wish it were not so, but that's what we are. Take care there and stay safe and well.

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    1. robin andrea: Being complicated can also be a good thing. Einstein, for instance, was pretty complicated.

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  2. My thoughts tonight are with the voters in Georgia ... may the majority once again cast their ballots for those who trust science.

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    1. zu schwer: I'd answer this but I think the events that followed - and are implied in my later post, Brief Candle - may for a time set your mind at rest.

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  3. It could be worse! Today we have a treat. I am allowed to drive the 20 miles to Canterbury Hospital with my wife as we are invited to see the oncology specialist FACE TO FACE (or mask to mask) to discuss her forthcoming regime of chemotherapy ("tidying up" after her recent op. apparently)

    So, a day out together in the January murk and wet. What larks, Pip!

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    1. Avus: We drove to the jab. It was less than two miles but it was nice to hear the Skoda engine start up with very little reluctance despite its under-employment over these past months.

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  4. Complicated, yes. My doctor husband has gotten the first jab, but my neurotech son has not. Half of my home-contacts, then.

    And I just pushed my mother, 91, to get one in North Carolina... My state is making the process difficult, as expected. Sigh.

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    1. Marly: You like a Latin tag every now and then. How about Gradus ad Parnassum?

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