[This blog first appeared in the Andersonstown News]
Where have all the preachers gone? The guys who used to tell us that modern life was far too hectic, too pressurized, we were ignoring or hadn’t time for what really matters in life. Like silence. And your family. And Nature. No need to preach any more – their wish is a reality for us all.
Maybe if the world hadn’t come to such a sudden, juddering stop we’d feel better about getting so much silence and family and Nature. Though if we look at the pluses, we’ll see that the poisoning of the planet has also, by and large, come to a halt. We had ten years, we were told, to get our ecological act together, or we’d be terminally choked by fumes and plastic. But of course most countries ignored the call or said to ask them again in 2050. Only now Nature has grabbed the handbrake and pulled it hard. We’re all now faced with an indefinite amount of time to sit and think about how we can save the planet and our own miserable skins.
But will we sit and so think? Or more important, will our politicians use the time to do some radical thinking before it’s too late? Doubtful, I’d say. If we’re to believe Boris Johnson’s press office (that is very rude word to say out loud, Virginia) the recovering British prime minister has gone straight from ICU and gobbling oxygen to playing Suduko and watching TV. Trump, Varadkar, Macron, Merkel – I haven’t heard them come up with any major initiatives for the post-coronavirus world either. So given that Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson appears to be fighting shy of thoughts on a better Britain, here are three he might want to start with as he recuperates in the elegant setting of Chequers.
- Think again about weapon-selling. In the five year period 2009-2014, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) found that Britain ranks second in the world (behind the US, stupid) for selling weapons internationally. And Britain isn’t choosy about its customers either: the United Arab Emirates got £6.5 billion-worth of gear, Saudi Arabia got £5.7 billion. If you or I were to sell an AK-47 to some guy we met down in the pub and the authorities got to hear about it, within hours we’d be in lock-up, not lock-down. But big weapons, big money? No problem.
- Think again about the NHS.
If you watch Tories like Health Minister Matt Hancock praising nurses and doctors, you’d never guess they’ve been starving the NHS of funds for ten years and meeting the plea of nurses for a pay raise with a stony-hearted No. At last ten doctors (all of immigrant background) have died in recent weeks. That’s because the Tory government didn’t provide proper protective gear for medical people working with Covid-19 patients. So maybe stop this The-Nation-Claps claptrap, pay these brave men and women properly, and provide the NHS with the funding it needs to function effectively. Let that be your applause: raised pay and a system that’s not starved of funds.
- Think again about salaries. Everybody’s salary.
One thing the lock-down has forced on our attention is the vital role played by the lowest paid: cleaners, check-out people, shelf-stackers, truck-drivers. We now know, because the past couple of months have proved it again and again, that society wouldn’t function if it wasn’t for this uncomplaining army of people. If your work is what helps hold society together, shouldn’t that be reflected in your monthly pay cheque?
So, Alexander Boris de Ptfeffel Johnson, bin the soduko, switch off the telly. Try instead some serious thinking on the three points above, and the British public might believe you’re serious about creating a fairer society after the Covid-19 horror-show ends. It’s time to stop gushing gratitude and start planning to gush life-saving funds. And end all sale of weapons of death.
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