Lockdown News: Part III...

Saw this. Liked it. I think she's one of the most astute political commentators out there. Enjoy...

Lockdown News: Part II...

Apparently musicals by multi-millionaire former Tory peer and arse-faced human Andrew Lloyd Webber are going to be made available for free on a YouTube channel. 

Just in case we haven't suffered enough.

Lockdown News: Part I...

Confession time. I initially quite liked the idea of social distancing. It's true that I love meeting people, training martial arts with people, going out with people and all that sort of stuff. I am probably a people person. If that doesn't make me sound like a complete cunt.

But the modern world is also really noisy. And the pressure to follow people and 'like' things on social media has even turned the volume up in quiet spaces. So I am tempted to like this enforced break from my normal routines.

With vulnerable people dying, NHS frontline staff not getting adequate protection and a government showing all the authority of a crap prefect during an earthquake, the world is a scary place. So opting out of it for a while is an enticing option.

You sort of hope people may learn to be more tolerant and forgiving after this shit storm is over. But the evidence is unclear. Lots of people have volunteered to help those in trouble and that's great. But there were also weapons-grade fuckwits at the start of this who took little heed of the distancing advice, and put themselves first and stockpiled food so there wasn't enough available for everyone else.

Then there's the Government. Their response to the crisis has been utterly shocking.

They dithered and promoted some ridiculous 'herd immunity' bollocks when all the evidence showed that the pandemic was heading to these shores – and they needed to start following the examples of other countries who'd successfully adopted policies to stem the tide of contagion. Even when it had arrived, the focus seemed to be on protecting the economy and ensuring their rich mates were protected at the expense of the people working for them.

They've also been appalling at acquiring basic protective equipment and testing for frontline NHS staff. In fact, you have to admire the sheer brass neck of Tory politicians standing in front of signs that read 'Protect the NHS'. Yes, it would be an idea, wouldn't it? Damn shame you've spent a decade starving it of funding and slashing pretty much every resource it needs to function at anything like full capacity.

Then, in added piece of balls-out chutzpah, the disgusting bastards stood there and clapped for the NHS like they've always been its greatest champions.

I genuinely despair. I should just opt out. And I would do if I didn't realise that was the wrong response. But what to do? I guess it's a matter of waiting for this to be over, then rolling my sleeves up and finding a way to help change things.

In retrospect, social distancing isn't really so appealing. Social uniting is what's needed. And everyone needs to opt in.