Bring Out Your Dead!

In the overall scale of things the corona virus is relatively small beer. Yes, it is. I know it is highly infectious and yes it has killed older people but even on the scale of China and Italy the mortalities don’t measure up to the regular winter seasonal toll from other, more well known diseases. And while it may be nastier, at least until the population begins to develop a resistance, is it really a good idea to slow economic activity to a pace at which entire countries begin to go bankrupt, with consequences for years ahead?

There are pitfalls whichever way we turn. Ignore it and let infection run rife with the possibility of direct terminal outcomes for a minority, or run away and hide with longer term, equally fatal consequences for possibly many more because of a lack of resources for health and social care? Do you push one off the train to save hundreds, or do you sacrifice the lot? Economics, in the wider sense, really couldn’t care less; it will take you if you are in the line of fire, regardless.

For what it’s worth, the so far pragmatic approach of the UK government, advised by the best that are available, is reassuringly British. Carry on, but brace for the worst and rely a little on common sense and providence to lighten the burden. We don’t much like contact with strangers anyway, so this is a perfect opportunity to utilise our characteristic coolness under the guise of self-isolation. Sorry boss, I can’t come into work today; I hate you all. A tad boring, perhaps, but we’ve always looked down on the frantic, over-the-top, ‘forrin’ ways of coping with crises.

So, for the near future at least, it is mostly business as usual and one activity which has shown no sign of slowing down is political opportunism. The usual subjects, in the usual way, have seized the chance to condemn Brexit, racism, The Tories, toxic masculinity; you name it, it’s to blame. The Labour Party, possibly due a lack of a solid, traditional education, seem to mistake the role of opposition, believing it to mean simply opposing every single thing the government does. Oh, and every one of them – caring, as they are - seems to be gleefully hoping that only Conservatives contract the virus.

But all they are doing, these sneering, jostling look-at-me commentators; the David Lammies the Femis, the Toynbees et al is exposing to ridicule their pointless crusades. When the country is challenged it needs to do what it has always done and come together to make common cause. Those who continue to carp from the sidelines will be exposed as the useless pouting, pontificating meatheads they really are. And the true worth of every diversity champion in every organisation will be exposed as approximating to zero.

So, the real casualties of the Winter of Corona, I hope, will be all those who make a living from invented victimhood, from confected notions of privilege, from fomenting dissent against this most welcoming nation. I hope the metaphorical funeral pyres are piled high with the figurative corpses of customer experience managers, human resources twonks and people who conduct surveys to produce pre-conceived outcomes. Rid of the sheer expense of all the professional naval gazers we might actually be able to begin to heal the country after all.