Praise the Lord! We are now the envy of the world
AMID the devastation of the Covid pandemic, it is impossible not to feel a sense of pride and admiration at Britain’s remarkable vaccination programme. Ambitious in concept, heroic in purpose and magnificent in execution, it represents a vast collective effort on a scale never before seen in peacetime.
When the virus began its malignant spread last year, our country was derided as the sick man of Europe. Now we are the envy of the world.
The Government’s faltering initial response has been replaced by the superb dynamism of the vaccine rollout, with more than 3.8 million people already inoculated.
Jabs are being administered at the rate of 140 every minute, and the NHS is on course to meet its target of 15 million jabs by mid-February, especially as 10 new centres open this week.
Despair is giving way to hope. While vaccination programmes across the EU are characterised by sluggish caution and bureau- cratic inertia, Britain forges ahead. After the misery of the last 10 months, we could actually become one of the first major countries to return to normality by the summer.
THIS success story is a tribute not only to the Government’s planning and foresight but also to the strength of traditional British institutions which have risen superbly to the challenge.
Foremost has been the NHS, the dedication of whose staff has been matched by their expertise. In its epic performance, the service has made a mockery of the criticism that it is an outdated monolith.
Equally impressive is the support network, including the St John Ambulance, the Royal Voluntary Service, hospitality venues, supermarkets and private pharmacies.
Under Brigadier Phil Prosser, the Army has lent both logistical and medical assistance, living up to its reputation for disciplined efficiency.
Just as importantly, the senior Royals set their usual fine example, with the Queen and Prince Philip both having their vaccinations.
It is fashionable among Leftwing intellectuals to sneer at Britain, claiming its political system is “broken”. But the rollout exposes the emptiness of that charge.
In the pit of crisis, the fabric of our public life has proved resilient. And nothing symbolises that reassuring continuity more graphically than the scenes at Salisbury Cathedral over the weekend.
Converted into a vaccination centre, the 800-year-old edifice played host to a large number of elderly residents waiting to receive their jabs.
As they queued patiently, any anxieties were soothed by classical music played on the cathedral’s famous 19th-century organ, designed by HenryWillis.
The setting could have hardly been more inspirational.
IT IS true that the vaccine is a modern development, but its administration in Salisbury was in keeping with the centuries-old Christian mission to heal the sick and provide comfort in distress.
Equally appropriate was that one of the first to receive it in the cathedral was RAF veteran Louis Godwin, 95, who served in the war as a tail gunner in a Lancaster bomber. His past service helped save our country from tyranny almost 80 years ago. At the weekend he participated in another exercise in national salvation.
That sort of connection between past and present is an
essential ingredient of humanity. But tragically, it is entirely lost on the noisy, narcissistic woke campaigners, who loathe our heritage.
To them, our history is nothing more than a shameful saga of oppression, an attitude epitomised by a desire to tear down statues, deface monuments, ban books and remove images that do not fit their ideology. They do not want to learn from the past, only use it as a vehicle for their destructive propaganda.
Their poisonous influence can be found everywhere, from universities with their obsession with “decolonising” courses, to the National Trust, which now seems to see itself as an advocate of identity politics rather than the guardian of Britain’s landscape and buildings.
These zealots dress up their opinions as progressive but in reality, they are so twisted by their dogma that they lack any true kindness or tolerance.
It is fascinating to contrast the dignity of Salisbury with the hate-filled rage of the woke brigade, personified by the activist who recently described great disability rights campaigner Helen Keller, herself mute, blind and deaf, as “just another privileged white woman”.
Fortunately it is the compassion of Salisbury and the NHS that represent the real Britain.
‘In the pit of crisis, the fabric of our public life has proved resilient’