Last night I went to bed full of optimism that we Brits would work and come together to defeat the threat of Coronavirus to our country.
I opened the door last night to a ripple of applause coming up and down my street and clapped my hands raw. It was tremendous to be part of such a collective show of gratitude to all those in the NHS who are literally putting their lives on the line. I admit it made me cry with pride.
Then the news this morning that councils were being told to get all the homeless off the street by tonight and into accommodation was also a real step forward for our communities.
All of this happening on top of the hundreds of thousands of ordinary Brits who have signed up as volunteers made me dare to think the UK, and the world might become a nicer, kinder place after the virus even if we will be in a major recession and probably depression.
It made me believe that we are all in this together and the only way to win the battle is to unite and all do our bit by self-isolating, staying at home and taking responsibility for ourselves, our families, our Communities and country.
However, after Boris’ and Matt Hancock’s diagnosis it would appear from social media that the #Bekind campaign is well and truly over.
Playing Politics With Pandemic
I was amazed that people politicised Boris’ illness literally within seconds and were showing him no sympathy whatsoever and some were even hoping he would die!
What is wrong with these keyboard warriors and cretins? His girlfriend is pregnant and he has other children, why on earth would you be so offensive?
Others have dressed up their visceral hatred for him by asking why did he get a test when NHS workers have not had them yet. I wonder if it could be because he is the PM, you fools?
Look, I have been critical more than most of a lot of Boris’ handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
He was slow off the blocks and there is no doubt that the herd immunity policy was completely wrong, hence his late U-turn. He was also wrong not to shut down the country weeks ago and initiate universal testing starting with all NHS workers first.
It is also inexcusable that having known since January this virus could explode that he and Matt Hancock did not ensure that we had enough essential protection equipment in place for all our NHS team.
BUT none of this deserves Boris receiving what amounts to death threats or people wishing that he dies or at least really suffers with this dreadful illness.
The two people who are leading the fight against this virus have now gone down with it proving we have to take it seriously. We should be worrying about how many other members of the cabinet are also carrying it before we also consider whether his top scientific advisers could also be victims. In fact, the Chief Medical Officer has now gone into self-isolation too.
This is not the time for political posturing or displays of real hatred and it was good to see David Lammy, no friend of Boris or the Tories, tweeting the following, ‘Wishing the health secretary Matt Hancock a full and fast recovery, along with the Prime Minister. We all must follow government precautions to reduce the spread of this dangerous coronavirus. Stay Home, Save Lives.’
Stop Brexit Style Point Scoring
Lammy is bang on the money. The time for political point scoring is not now whilst we are in the midst of the battle; it is later, once we as a nation have won the war. Then there must be a full inquiry and accountability and explanations.
It is a pity that thousands on Twitter did not follow David Lammy’s example. What is wrong with people, where is their humanity, when they write bile like this, ‘he's the PM responsible for worsening this crisis. I won't #prayforboris, won't spare a thought for Poor Boris, until every self-employed person, every nurse, care worker, deliverer, every single one of his victims, is safe and compensated. That is to say, never.’
What depths of the cesspit of this tweeter’s mind does this thought come from? But this lowlife is just one example of thousands that have been posted all over social media in the last few hours.
Look, things are really getting serious, the death rate in the UK is up again, The Excel Centre is being turned into a hospital and now we hear that the NEC and the Gmex in Manchester are also going to be utilised.
Now we hear that Birmingham Airport is going to be a super mortuary capable of taking a minimum of 1500 bodies.
This is serious and yes, mistakes have been made BUT we are where we are and it is what it is. Now we have to deal with what is in front of us.
Let’s pause the bitching and the whining, the Brexit style point scoring, as this threat is much more serious than whether we leave or stay in the EU.
I think most people in the UK realise this and we must make our voices heard above the vitriol, hatred and pure filth of Twitter.
Last night at 8pm I was really proud to be British but today I am disgusted that we have people living amongst us who act and tweet like this.
Let’s not allow their inhumanity and hatred to dominate our reaction to this deadly enemy.
