Saturday 6th June – Tuesday 9th June 2020
I’m sorry if you’ve missed me lately but I have to be honest – I’ve been stuck with finding anything to say – not that there isn’t plenty to say – but my (feeble) attempts to do a John Crace or Marina Hyde and take the piss out of Johnson and his gang of useless lick-spittle arse-lickers. It just seems so wrongly out of place and inappropriate when it can be seen that the UK clocks up more deaths daily than Europe as a whole, that the UK death toll stands at over 50,000 and yet our illustrious ‘leaders’ willingly open up England to the prospect of a second wave. My take on what is going on just seems so frivolous when the world seems to be going mad – but – then again – we do need to do what we can to call out the idiocy we recognise and try to hold those responsible to the scrutiny their actions demand.
Whilst we as a nation, like many others, struggle with Covid-19 society in the USA seems to be collapsing under the economic strain of Covid-19 and the country’s never ending problem of racism. The murder of George Floyd has seen thousands of people rise up in protest at the way African Americans are treated by Police and the irony of more Police violence against those protesting against Police violence seems to be lost on Trump and his neo-con supporters. The Police have also taken a hard line against journalists who are trying to report on what’s going on – an action safeguarded by their Constitution as a freedom of the press. This isn’t new, we have seen it before here in the UK albeit in different circumstances but when one is sanctioned they do tend to circle the wagons to protect themselves, rather than do the honest thing and deal with the issue. Don’t be misled into believing that Police in the USA are there to ‘Protect and Serve’ as those in the UK are (here we are policed by consent) – read this article to get a better understanding of the history of policing in the USA. Then you will understand why it is being questioned whether the uniforms involved are actually Police Officers. Follow the link – these supposed Police Officers have no insignia, no numbers, no name tags – nothing to identify them. Donal Trump has also, I believe, unconstitutionally ordered the Army on to the streets and now, it would seem, hired mercenary ‘Police’ officers to ramp up the numbers of law-enforcement officers to stop people exercising their constitutional right to protest. There are also images of armed vigilantes patrolling the streets – and when I say armed just look at the mil. spec. weapon in the man on the left’s hands! Who needs a weapon like that? Only in the USA!
The death of George Floyd is but another in a long list of brutal actions against African Americans but this is the one that will blow the lid off the cauldron of race-relations in the USA and will have consequences here in the UK as well – and whilst I can’t condone violence I can fully understand why people who still, to this day, twenty years in to the twenty-first century, feel they have no alternative but to stand and fight.
If that’s what they have to do then that’s what they have to do – and I’m with them on that.
Similarly here in the UK people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Groups have been almost targeted by Covid-19 and have died in disproportionate numbers. Public Health England’s report is being criticised for not being complete enough and of having been ‘censored’ to hide less acceptable truths. We are still suffering the effects of the murder of Stephen Lawrence and racism remains prevalent in all areas of society – even the NHS, an organisation which depends on BAME staff doesn’t escape criticism as this report into the Blood Transfusion service highlights. This is something really close to my heart because up until my accident I was a regular blood and then platelets donor, sometimes as often as every two weeks – and I’ve got the badges, the pen and two whisky tumblers to show for it. Who would have thought that the cancer that is racism is within the NHS!
The remarks being made about the weekend-long protests in the UK take some swallowing. Boris Johnson telling all how he ‘gets it’ now but having never apologised for referring to piccaninnies, water melon smiles and letterboxes is an insult. Priti Patel, the daughter of Ugandan Asians who fled Uganda just before Idi Amin forcibly expelled all Ugandan Asians – tens of thousands of whom emigrated and were welcomed to the UK – is probably the most racist Home Secretary ever, giving even Theresa May and her mobile advertising slogans a run for her money. The Home Office is, in my view, deeply racist as a result of the actions of May and more latterly Patel, ably aided and abetted by Johnson and with racism prevalent at such a high level in government is it any wonder it’s showing no sign of abating. You don’t believe me? What about the Windrush scandal? The subject of a new BBC drama entitled ‘Sitting in Limbo’ that started last night (Monday 8th June 2020) and now up on the iPlayer – I dare you to watch it and feel comfortable with yourself at the end. There is very little great about Great Britain – Brexit, Covid-19 and the disgrace of racism have demolished any illusion of that.
With all that being the case is it any wonder that the protests around the tragedy of George Floyd turned the way they did? That the statue of Edward Colston stayed up for so long was an insult to every person from a BAME background, not just in Bristol but all the UK and it’s way beyond time that all tributes to slave traders are removed, wherever they may be.
There is a long overdue demand for very real change in the air, not just here but across the world.
Meanwhile, back in Parliament, the government are now rubbing their hands in glee because when Covid-19 spikes for a second time they can blame the protestors for gathering in their tens of thousands to express their outrage. They can now, they think, avoid all criticism and retribution for their absolute shambolic, criminal handing of the pandemic.
Not for them to remember the promises made about having to meet five steps before lifting the lockdown. The R number is still at or around 1.0 having not moved from the 0.7 – 0.9 level so conveniently quoted for so long. There is some evidence that R is above 1.0 in certain areas, including my own North West but still the lockdown is getting lifted. Porquoi? – as they’d say here in France – why?
The veracity of the data being offered lately is crap – items are getting dropped as and when it suits them and there was no daily update on Saturday and Sunday (6th and 7th June 2020). By my calculations 25 people were reported as having died on Saturday and Sunday but there was no formal recognition of these losses by the government, the very same government that is absolutely responsible, indeed culpable for these deaths, the very same government that is now so obviously bored with the detail and now only concerned in winning back its polling popularity.
Shame on them, shame on them all!
Make no mistake, the tactic now is to get people outdoors thinking all is well. Start planning a night out at the pub or even think about booking a holiday – think of the fun you’ll have having two weeks on a Costa del something and then having another two weeks in lockdown when you get home – that’s if your boss will furlough you a second time! Their backs are covered because they can blame the protestors if it all goes tits up again. I’m getting really cross now – but just look at the things they’ve rushed through (and in some cases back-tracked on) – like opening schools (whoops, not now as not ready or safe enough) – like locking down incoming foreign visitors (at least two months too late to have an effect) – telling people being shielded they can go out no (with no prior warning to GP’s) and making face covering mandatory on public transport and in hospitals (but not just yet, leave it a week). The government are jumping from one brainwave to another to get people in the mood for summer, filling us up with twisted figures that are being bent to show the disease is on it’s way out and trying their damnedest to divert us from the fact that they’ve really messed things up, been directly responsible for killing innocent people and show no signs of taking any responsibility.
Covid-19 is still rife in the population, fewer than 10% of the population is immune and any resurgence will prove devastating, hitting many of those who, until now, have been protected by shielding, food deliveries to home and the care of others. Last night (Monday 8th June 2020) Matt Hancock stated quire clearly that there was no trade-off between lives and the economy. Unfortunately the same mindset cannot be recognised in the more looney elements of the Conservative back-bench. The economy is getting smashed but that is no reason to sacrifice any more people on the altar of mammom, as I’ve stated before in these pages. The Daily Heil is this afternoon quoting over 51,000 deaths with another 145 confirmed deaths (Tuesday 9th June 2020). The Blitz killed fewer than that, with most sources putting the casualties at 43,000. Johnson craves comparison with Churchill, well here’s one he wont relish I’m sure – he’s killed more UK civilians than Hitler!
I’m just about worn out now – it’s difficult sitting in my wheelchair typing with no control over my balance from the waist up – but heh ho – that’s the way it is.
Before I love you and leave you though I must tell you about a book I’m reading; it’s called ‘The Five Giants’ by Nicholas Timmins. It’s a biography of the Welfare State which grew out of the Beveridge Report of 1942 and for which we should all be thankful, none the less because the NHS, at the forefront of our present problems, was born out of it and as we have seen needs to be protected at all costs.
The Welfare State was the child of World War 2, in many ways the reward for the people of Britain for persevering and overcoming the threat to democracy posed by the Nazis. There is an argument that we need a similar far-reaching answer to the issues and schisms in British society that Covid-19 has exposed, a Beveridge Report for 2020 maybe. This is a big read but well worth the effort and I heartily recommend it to you all.
I’ll be back soon so stay home, stay safe, protect the NHS and save lives – oh and get angry with the clowns who are running this show -they think they’re getting away with it and Cummings is home free – they aren’t and need telling.
Speak again soon
Je