Are we elderly expendable in the face of coronavirus?
STRATIFICATION is the hallmark of our society. In the war against the coronavirus ‘the elderly’ are confined to barracks, leaving the field open to the millennials.
A division effected between the generations under the guise of the State’s concern for the vulnerable and the elderly.
A concern that was conspicuously absent when some of the elderly in their 70s and 80s were subjected to a means test that resulted in their being required to return their medical cards to the State – leaving them facing into great anxiety in the knowledge that it would be impossible for them to meet expensive hospital and prescription costs.
Confined to barracks when the elderly will read with some alarm that the State may have to accord preferential healthcare treatment over those whose demise would be considered for the general good and in line with the theories of the economist Thomas Malthus related to population control.
Confined to barracks when there would be those amongst the ranks of the elderly convinced that the day would come when they would be transported to the departure lounge, facing into the exit – the Vulnerable Elderly thus acquiring the penultimate classification: The Expendable.
Please note that the over-70s author of this correspondence maintains strict adherence to the guidelines for the over 70s set out by the Health Service Executive.
John Kelly, Co. Westmeath.
Nature reigns
THE consequence of still being permitted to take a ‘local walk’ extends beyond the physical and mental benefits of such exercise. Critically, it allows the natural world to confront us with the genuineness of its intrinsic values and its temperate modus operandi. Despite society’s version of ‘Covid-19’ which we relentlessly inflict on the natural world, it continues to go about its business while we humans are now floundering. The obvious green shoots of spring, now becoming widespread, are not metaphorical pointers to any future aspiration or possible state but authentic indicators of fruits, crops and blooms that will mature and flourish.
Over the past few mornings I’ve noted a pair of swans, taking time to occasionally genuflect their bowed necks in each other’s direction, surveying the riverbank for a secure location to build a nest where they will rear a family without fuss but without fear of homelessness.
An enterprising magpie, which I observed rescue a sliver of Christmas tinsel from a castaway bag of rubbish in the same vicinity, will, albeit with a bit more glamour, do likewise.
The bees, ladybirds, butterflies and their fellow insects, currently awakening, are hoping that county councils will decide that spraying grass margins, pathway verges, the bases of traffic signs, etc with toxic weed killer this spring will be deemed as an unessential task.
A walk in the lurking shadow of Covid-19 is above all else a serious confrontation with our arrogantly assumed preeminence on ‘our’ planet.
Michael Gannon, Kilkenny city.
Power sharing
IT HAS been seen how covetous and selfish some states have been in sharing important resources during the Covid-19 emergency, with some believing their own national needs are paramount over the needs of others (including various EU
‘partners’).
This brings me to Ireland’s electricity supplies. A reference to EirGrid’s dashboard for April 8 – during that sunny calm day -– shows that electricity generated from Ireland’s group of installed wind turbine generators was less than 1% of their maximum possible power production at times during the day.
As our native thermal (fuelfired) plants were running ‘flat out’, the balance of EirGrid’s (all island) demand was being met by importing electricity through the interconnectors with Europe (via the UK).
This imported power, at the evening peak demand (6pm to 9pm), was almost 20% of the electricity requirements of the whole island of Ireland.
One might wonder if this amount of imported electricity will be available to Ireland should there be a power crisis across our EU neighbours at some future time due to a curtailment of oil and gas from Russia and the Middle East.
Tom Baldwin, Midleton, Co.Cork.
Don’s hotline to God
IT NEVER occurred to me until Donald Trump said he was praying to God to save the world from the coronavirus that he had close diplomatic relations with the supreme being. He made this statment despite boasting he enjoyed grabbing women’s private parts.
Tony Moriarty, Dublin 6W