The world is upside down. Friday was a bank
holiday (normally held on a Monday). No racing, no football, no cricket, no
gatherings, no social life (impossible under the lockdown regulations). Shops,
hotels, offices and pubs closed, most travel by train or plane, both domestic
and international, at a standstill. Social distancing, separating families,
friends and colleagues, deemed essential to stop the Covid-19 virus in its
tracks. The toll of fatalities in the UK, standing at 31,000 and rising
inexorably every day, cruelly ravaging especially the elderly and the infirm.
Friday was an important anniversary too, 75 years since the Nazis surrendered
on 8 May 1945 bringing to an end a brutal war for the whole world. The memories
were heartbreaking for many, mingled with pride for a brave past. The dangerous
present clouded any household celebrations but that proud past may have
steadied our spirits as we all face months of uncertainty and many face threats
of deprivation and enforced idleness.
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| Churchill and colleagues in Whitehall on 8 May 1945 |
The lockdown itself has had very mixed results.
We all resolved finally to read Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past, to
primp and pamper all those summer shirts and silken outfits, to learn
conversational Italian or to source and bake Jamie’s venison and seafood pie.
But somehow the days have been so short, telescoping the hours available, that
these great projects lie undone. I was to read Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell
epic Wolf Hall but I am only on page 87 of 650 in part 1 and there are
two more volumes to come! It is great stuff, but somehow, I am easily
distracted and am more comfortable with short and sharply amusing articles from
the ever-accessible Spectator.
My lovely wife and I have become dab hands at
crosswords, codewords and jigsaws. We are expert at game shows, talent contests
and quizzes but have not yet mastered the cast names of EastEnders or Coronation
Street (but the year is young and lockdown may last until the autumn!). We
have watched far too many moronic films featuring Jason Statham or Steven Seagal
and my feeble brain is further befuddled by copious quantities of warming Bristol
Cream sherry and that greatest of Italian inventions, Prosecco –
Galileo and Marconi are sad also-rans. I make no pretence of suffering!
The VE celebrations marked the passing of a
generation. Quite soon that generation will slip into history as the First
World War heroes already have. You need to be at least 90 years old to have
played an adult part in the Second World War and there are fewer and fewer
survivors. Let us lift a glass in honour of that wonderful generation with Vera
Lynn, Captain Tom, Prince Philip and Her Majesty still flying the flag!
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| Dame Vera Lynn (my Dad loved her) with the troops |
Today’s “challenging” reality seems to be that
we are in for a long haul to await the dawning of the day when the irksome
current restrictions are lifted. Many old and some able-bodied people too will
die in the meanwhile, a national tragedy. Boris faces hostility from the
devolved administrations eager to keep their nationalistic pots boiling; from
opposition benches still smarting from Boris’ December 2019 election triumph;
and from Tory hotheads dismayed by the economic damage emanating from lockdown.
Yet surely Boris is right to be ultra-cautious. The virus is not well
understood, scientists disagree, the death rate is not declining steeply, the
NHS and care-homes are fragile, testing, tracking and tracing are not yet well
established. We must wait and hope someone, somewhere takes a grip of this dire
crisis and takes the necessary decisions. May it be Boris!
Boris, we need real
leadership now
SMD
10.05.20
Text copyright © Sidney Donald
2020
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