I’m Tom, I’m an Explorer/Adventurer/Musicaian/Model from the UK. I believe in doing your part to make the world a better place for everyone.
Be the kind of person you would want your children to be
You knew what you were voting for,
Their blood is on your hands.
I can’t believe it’s come to this.
I wish that were true but sadly the general public have always been cannon fodder for the tories. With years of harsh cuts to the NHS and public services can any of us really claim to be shocked by the situation we find ourselves in? You certainly can’t if you voted for it.
Ten years ago maybe you could have been forgiven for believing that the tories want what’s best for the country as a whole. But after seeing what they had done over their reign what did you expect. It’s estimated that the governments austerity politics have resulted in well over 100,000 deaths. That’s not even accounting for incidents like Grenfell tower which killed 72 people at one time. So is it really a shock that this government’s response to Covid-19 was Herd Immunity?
“It was predicted”
In 2016, a pandemic drill was carried out in the UK with shocking results. Due to being devastated by budget cuts the NHS was quickly overwhelmed and it was predicted that the death rate would be high. The government was warned but did nothing and the department of health suppressed the conclusions. The rhetoric of ‘nobody could have seen this coming’ is a falsehood. It was predicted. Singapore realised as soon as Wuhan reported the outbreak that cases would turn up there, so they prepared for it. Unlike the UK who carried on as normal. The kicker is that Singapore basically copied the UK pandemic preparedness plan, the only difference is they actually implemented the plan. This wasn’t unpredictable, many saw this coming, plans were in place. There’s a reason movies like Contagion relate so well currently and that’s because none of this was unpredictable, our government has just been lying to you. There were pre-existing plans for pandemics made ready, in some cases, decades ago that just needed to be implemented, some very specifically for non-influenza, respiratory diseases that would not be effectively treated by herd immunity. Sound familiar?
242k
UK Square miles
290k
Confirmed Cases
41k
Deaths
9.8M
US Square miles
2M
Confirmed Cases
114k
Deaths
We have the most Covid-19 related deaths in the continent, we’re second in the world only to the USA. It seems highly significant that the two wealthy western countries with the worst problems of social inequality and deprivation account for nearly half of all global Covid-19 deaths to date. It’s also of note that the virus is statistically more likely to kill the poor than the affluent. The message now is to return to work. Can we just be honest about what that means? It means that you need to risk your life going to work to provide comfort for those that don’t need to. Research has shown that those living in less affluent areas are 2.3 times more likely to die from the virus than those living in more affluent areas.
It doesn’t matter, to this government your death is a noble sacrifice to keep the economy plodding along and the super rich comfortable in their mansions.
“feeling like they are attending support therapy ran by their abusers”
But what about if you’re working on the frontline of the NHS? What if you’re saving lives and risking yours daily to do so? Maybe you’ll finally get that pay rise, maybe the government will stop considering you an unskilled worker. Nope, you get a two year pay freeze and some clapping. You’re being ‘thanked for your sacrifice’ whilst being left inadequetely protected. Something that would usually be considered illegal within a workplace. You’re being clapped by the very people that have left you forced to use foodbanks to feed yourself and your family and cheered on by those who voted them. The very people that vilified non-uk staff are now thanking them for their bravery. NHS staff have compared what’s going on currently to feeling like they are attending support therapy ran by their abusers. They’re being threatened with disciplinary action if they use social media to criticise the government whilst seeing that same government creating fake accounts, impersonating doctors to praise themselves. But still people applaud, they praise the government as if it were not them that spent the last decade closing countless hopsitals. Who have cut 17,000 beds, driven immigrant staff away and left the NHS short of more 100,000 staff members.
“You didn’t seem to care too much about the NHS a few months ago”
If you’re someone that voted for this do your claps really mean that much? You didn’t seem to care too much about the NHS a few months ago. Inequality didn’t seem to be a concern for you then. Is it only concerning now that the consequences directly affect you? Are you going to be sending your children back to school because frankly the guidance issued to schools is horrifying. The governement has stated that if a child displays any symptoms that they must be locked in to a room on their own until they can be removed by a parent, however long that may be. That’s the advice for 4-6 year olds. If you’re happy to have that happen to your child or any of their friends, let alone any child at all then I’m afraid you need to take a serious look at yourself.
“it’s a rigged system and it has directly led us to where we are now”
None of this is OK. The government has failed and should be held accountable and pointing that out isn’t ‘playing politics’. Labour are not without fault, as the leaks showed the party has intentionally self sabotaged to throw 2 elections just because some of the members, (Keir Starmer included) would prefer the opposition win than Corbyn the party leader. That’s not democracy, it’s a rigged system and it has directly led us to where we are now.
“protect the vulnerable and to create a better future”
I’ve seen so many using this crisis to defend political opinions. It’s not about politics, politics have failed you. It’s about fixing the mistakes that have already been made, holding those responsible accountable and striving for change both to protect the vulnerable and to create a better future. If anything I believe some good should come of all of this, there is no reason that the furlough payments can’t continue. If it continues at the same rate, then by October it will have cost £69 Billion. Whilst this may seem like a lot, £500 billion was spent bailing out the banks in 2009, £200 billion was spent on Trident and £106 billion for HS2. There’s also the matter of the £70 billion a year lost to tax avoidance. Keeping people safe is not un-affordable, we do not have to choose between death by Covid-19 or death by austerity. We shouldn’t be celebrating a 99 year old man raising money for the NHS like it’s a charity. We should be kicking down the doors of the politicians and demanding to know why they think that we should be expected to ‘dig deep’ and pay for their shortcomings.
The sad thing is I told you so doesn’t quite cut it. The left told you that the election was a matter of life or death. If you voted for this, you made your choice, their blood is on your hands. The question is, what are you going to do to make up for that?
Naylortoawall 