Don’t forget our grandmothers on today of all days
heard amid almost universal respect. The prospect of spending several months under something that may feel close to house arrest – allowed out only for solitary exercise or essential shopping trips – is grim indeed for older people. But it is also essential if Britain is to come through this horrible experience without suffering hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths.
Already there are signs of acute coronavirus cases putting a severe strain on NHS intensive care units, with one outerlondon hospital declaring a 24-hour critical incident. And this is while the outbreak is still in its relative infancy.
The Prime Minister was therefore right to instruct cafés, pubs, restaurants, gyms, theatres and leisure centres to close. The number of person-to-person close interactions simply must be further reduced to slow down the infection rate.
People who were still gathering in bars before they were ordered to shut may have kidded themselves that they were exhibiting a patriotic “Blitz spirit” but, in fact, they were doing the opposite – recklessly helping the enemy, in this case a biological enemy, spread death and destruction.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak, an instinctive free marketeer, announced on Friday an unprecedented package of direct support to the economy that amounts to temporary wholesale nationalisation.
He arranged to fund 80 per cent of nonself-employed workers’ wages up to £2,500 per month and is right to protect employment levels and give reassurance to millions of working families.
This is not a case of a profligate state bailing-out weakling businesses destined to go to the wall because of their own shortcomings but rather of the state using the power and resources that only it can muster to preserve the jobs that will constitute the backbone of the British economy for many years to come.
Indeed, the one niggle most have about his plans is that so far they do not seem to cover millions of self-employed people, many of whom can demonstrate what their normal income looks like by simple reference to last year’s tax return. They must not be allowed to slip through the cracks.
In the coming months this epidemic will stretch every inch of our social fabric. It is heartening to hear of recently retired doctors and nurses already heeding requests to come out of retirement temporarily to boost NHS capacity.
There are many other signs of publicspirited Britons doing their bit to help. People are organising local support networks so that neighbours in self-isolation can be confident of getting essential supplies. Online forums have sprung up to allow people to stay in touch via social media, combating the threat of intense loneliness. Government plans for a national volunteer service can harness even more of the pent-up desire to help that exists, especially among young people and we must keep backing our NHS heroes.
As Mr Sunak so aptly put it, handling this crisis is “on all of us”. And afterwards the country would much rather look back on memories of altruism than on incidents of people behaving very badly, of panicbuying or black market profiteering.
This newspaper believes that supermarkets should be very strongly encouraged by the Government to impose maximum quotas on items in short supply and to hire extra security staff to enforce them.
If the vast majority of sensible shoppers can be given reassurance that greedy shelfstrippers are being stopped then the temptation to over-purchase out of worry that items are going to be unavailable longterm will disappear.
Equally, it is crucial for strong and visible policing to take place, especially in larger cities.a lesson of the 2011 riots and subsequent looting is that mass lawlessness must be nipped in the bud or it will spread. So far, we have not observed such scenes but nobody should suppose that a criminal element looking to exploit any weakness in the civic order has gone away.a Commons statement along these lines from Home Secretary Priti Patel would be welcome.
The past week has seen some criticism of the Prime Minister, his expert advisers and the Government but one recent poll showed support for the Tories standing at
‘It’s tough but let’s make the best of it’
52 per cent and a large majority backing the Government’s handling of the emergency.
While Mr Johnson is not entitled to expect unqualified or ever lasting support from the public irrespective of how he handles things, he is entitled to expect their backing for so long as he continues ably to chair the team of experts driving policy and effectively communicate decisions to the nation. His readiness to be flexible and adjust his approach as new information is received – as this newspaper called for him to do last week – is a strength rather than a weakness.
Right now most of us are adjusting to new limits to our personal liberty that feel like an affront. Imposing them clearly goes against the grain with the Prime Minister, just as it runs counter to the long-held values of the Sunday Express.
This is not what life in Britain supposed to be like.
But no more palatable alternative is available and we must seek to make the best of it. Not every pleasure of life has been removed. Spring is waking up our gardens, birdsong fills the air and technology gives us more ways than ever to stay in touch with loved ones.
There is no getting away from the fact that Mother’s Day 2020 is, for many, both a write-off and a punctuation mark that will merely divide one sombre week from the next.
But we must put our trust in all those battling to turn the tide against this virus over the coming months.
Then we can start looking forward, perhaps, to a Mother’s Day in 12 months’ time that will feel more special than ever. is