It is unfair to put the onus of lost lives on us
Call it human nature, but when you reveal someone has died from lung cancer, the first, deeply insensitive question is invariably “Did they smoke?” If so, it was their own fault.
I have a terrible feeling that in the months to come, the loss of a much-loved elderly family member from Covid will be met with the damning words “Did they spend Christmas with you?” If so, it was your fault.
I’m not certain it’s possible to be both ham-fisted and mealymouthed at the same time but, if so, this government has finally got the hang of multitasking.
The current message – “Yes, you can see your grandparents, as we said you could, but we’d really rather you didn’t for their sake” – is a cynical abdication of responsibility.
Those who will be most dismayed, most distraught and most disappointed are the elderly.
Starved of loving relatives and human contact, they will surely feel they have been betrayed by this cowardly equivocation.
For any leader, public compliance and trust resides in the successful management of expectations. Again and again we were assured that Christmas could and would go ahead.
Medical experts now warn it was a crowd-pleasing pledge that our inveterate Pollyanna of a Prime Minister was not in a position to give. Yet he repeated this promise with impunity – until he didn’t. With just a week to go, he is unfairly placing the onus on the country, on individuals desperately in need of contact and company. That is neither fair nor honest.
Either it is reasonably safe or it isn’t. If it is so very dangerous then he must stand firm and cancel Christmas, regardless of the popular consequences.
If it is not so very dangerous then he should stop scaremongering from the sidelines.
I get the distinct impression Johnson wants to have it both ways; he is giving us a votewinning chance to meet at Christmas while retaining the right to say “I told you so” if the death rate rises.
I fear there is no courage in our Prime Minister’s convictions; that he is prioritising political expediency in a pandemic is shameful.