and the media are already gleefully announcing that the Opposition is going to win. The Prime Minister is "unpopular" (although still two points ahead of the Leader of the Opposition) and there is talk in the media of a leadership spill.
Are we on the verge of doing what Britain once did? Churchill got Britain almost through the war - and then got voted out. The Prime Minister who followed him, Attlee, had the responsibility of trying to start to rebuild post-war Britain but Churchill was voted in again after six years of Labour government. Britain then had Conservative governments until 1964.
We have been at war here - at war with a pandemic. While we all love to criticise the government the reality is that the government has actually done an outstandingly good job. The vast majority of us, over 90% are doubly vaccinated and a great many of us have had a booster shot as well. This has occurred despite the claims of the media and the Opposition that the government was not prepared, was tardy in acquiring the vaccine, and couldn't get them administered. Hospitals have been under pressure, even intense pressure, but we haven't had acres of temporary tent hospitals in car parks. Yes, we have had to wait hours for PCR tests - but how much of that has been due to healthy people queuing "just in case"? How much is the supposed "shortage" of Rapid Antigen Tests due to distribution to people who are demanding them but don't really need them? They may not see that as "hoarding" them but is there really a difference?
Yes, people have died - but that is the nature of a pandemic. People also die from influenza every year but this seems more dramatic. The media is making much of the numbers. At the same time they have been complaining, and encouraging others to complain, about the restrictions placed on us.
And people are demanding "more assistance" all the time. It is coming from all sectors of the economy. Our Deputy Prime Minister is a "bit of a character" I suppose but his comments last night when asked about more assistance for small business were interesting. He simply pointed out that there has to be a limit to what you can put on the credit card. When people demand "government assistance" they tend to forget that somehow this has to be paid for - and that it is the taxpayers who end up paying for it.
I suspect that this is what happened in Britain. People were, rightly, tired of the war and all the horrors that went with it. They wanted an end to rationing. They wanted life to go back to "normal" even if "normal" had changed forever. We want the same here. Many people see the Opposition as the party which is going to bring this about. It won't of course because we have a huge pandemic debt and if we want "normal" in the future we are going to have to work for it. It's a bit like having to do exercises after surgery. We won't feel like doing it. It is going to be extremely hard work.
Right now it looks as if a majority of people are going to opt for the "less exercise" option and hope we can get away with it. The only problem with that is that it will take much longer and the result will never be as good.
And no, I don't particularly like the present government - but the economic credentials of the other side worry me too.
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1 comment:
Very interesting Cat, because you are writing about a time I lived through and can tell you a lot about. In 1942, during the war a booklet was published called 'The Beveridge Report.' It was a huge best seller because it was dealing with a subject that most people were talking about, in factories, in the armed forces, at school, wherever crowds were naturally gathered together, I bought a copy which is still on my shelves. It analysed the state the country was in, naming the five 'giants' that had to be dealt with and how it could be done. In short it was the blue print for the founding of the NHS and the Welfare State. William Beveridge was a Liberal but his report was taken up by the Labour Party. Those people who had the vote and knew what sort of Government they wanted voted it in by a huge majority. It was the first bloodless evolution in our history. And although the Tories were furiously opposed to it - it took Nye Bevan three long years to get the NHS - the Labour Party eventually triumphed. And it was a triumphant triumph. The Tories are destroying the NHS now. That was always their intention. History looks different when you are living through it.
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