It will not do for the Tories to make a speech saluting our heroes when the virus passes – and then go back to the cuts and disrespect they habitually show. Those who fight this war for us must receive a lifelong ‘war pension’ – and if they fall in the fight, their families
The reality of the coronavirus crisis has begun to crystallise this week in the face of a tearful critical care nurse and the first critical incident declaration by a hospital overwhelmed by those suffering extreme symptoms.
This is barely the beginning. The slowness of the government to act, its failure to follow World Health Organisation recommendations to ‘test, test, test’ and its policy of merely managing the spread of the virus through the population mean that the UK is catching up on Italy and Spain.
And those in the front line of this fight are not even being provided with adequate protective equipment or tested to see if they become infected themselves.
They are going to war to save us, in mostly low-paid but now recognised as essential work – and putting their own lives at risk to do so. Many will not make it through the fight.
And when the pandemic eventually passes, the government will pay tribute to their heroism – and go as quickly as it can right back to its usual habits:
Cutting wages, reducing job security, taking away their social safety net – and denigrating ‘low-skilled’ or low-paid work.
That must not be allowed to happen.
Instead, the government must be forced by public pressure to provide concrete recognition of the self-sacrifice and bravery of those on the front-line of the war against the virus. Just as soldiers in some countries who returned from the World Wars received war pensions, those who fight now must receive a coronavirus war provision.
And it must be for life, not just when they reach retirement age.
Will it be a huge undertaking? Yes – and it needs to be. Doctors, nurses and others on the NHS front line will face hell – but workers in emergency services, teaching, retail and other roles will be in danger too. The government has shown that it can find huge sums of money and the will to use it – in the banking crisis and now in the hundreds of billions to support the economy.
They can do it – when they want to.
It is time to remake our society so that the people who are really essential are recognised and protected – instead of the usual elites. The number of people who will be putting their lives on the line in the coming months is going to be huge – and none must be taken for granted when the war is over.
A petition has been started to build public pressure on the government to commit to this recognition and reward for the incredible service that the crisis will demand of so many.
Sign it here and share it widely.
The petition says:
As the coronavirus crisis begins to bite in the UK, our front-line staff – in the NHS, emergency services, teaching, retail and other essential roles are risking their lives to save our lives. The strain can already be seen on the faces of tearful, exhausted health workers and others.
Suddenly, millions of low-paid and undervalued workers are officially ‘essential’ – but when the pandemic is over, the so-called ‘elites’ will revert to type. We must not tolerate that.
When this crisis passes, it simply will not do for the government to make a speech about their heroism and then go back to its habitual cuts, disrespect and destabilisation of these mostly low-paid heroes.
These front-line workers are fighting a war with the virus for us, knowing many of them will get sick and die as a result of their dedication. Those who do not survive will fear that their families will be left in hardship.
When this war is over, they MUST receive not just thanks but LIFELONG support: a ‘war pension’ to ensure their security and the security of their families – and it must go to the families of those who do not survive the fight, too.
Anything less than this will be a disgrace to our nation and our humanity. Make a UK that rewards and values those who really serve this country – and do it now.
Sign it here and share it widely.
When in trouble Brits love to find a scapegoat to blame. We had the search for evil Superspreaders but that fell a bit flat when they turned out to be middle class whites. Now we have the panic buyers stripping supermarkets of food. For a week or more the Government has been threatening lockdowns while ‘advising’ 1 and 2 week isolations. Imagine a family of 5 told they might very well have to stay in for at least two weeks and possibly months to come. Any responsible parent would be very anxious to ensure there were enough supplies. If it is ‘panic buying’ then let’s be clear it arises from a panicked and incompetent Government.
Anyone still in any doubt about what we are facing , particularly in London, but other big UK cities too, VERY SOON NOW , needs to read and watch this chilling and distressing Sky News item about the disaster in Northern Italy now . https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-everyone-dies-alone-heartbreak-at-the-italian-hospital-on-the-brink-of-collapse-11961130
Note that only ONE critically ill patient has recovered so far in the Italian hospital in the report – with everyone else critically ill dying after much suffering, despite the numerous ventilators and heroic healthcare from exhausted staff. As the medical staff report – everyone dies alone , and if still conscious near the end, deeply afraid and upset because relatives cannot visit. The harsh reality is that all of us might do better signing a ‘do not resuscitate’ wish end of life document NOW , in case we get infected and enter that ‘critical care needed’ state. All the attempts to keep the seriously ill alive in Italy have so far proved futile, and actually distracted from saving the fitter less ill. This is the reality of a medical ‘Triage’ at its most brutal and heartbreaking for medical staff. This ‘triage’ process , (ie, ignore the ‘walking wounded’ slightly ill, focus on the younger only quite ill – and leave the mainly older , weaker, very ill to die – or humanely give them an overdose of morphine’) is definitely coming to the UK as a medical procedure very, very, soon now. Sooner than it happened in Italy, given the Italian Health Service is much better resourced than ours after 10 years of Tory cuts.
The only adequate response from wider UK society after this avoidable catastrophe is finally over, and the mass burial pits containing our loved ones have been covered over, would be mass trials and mass judicial executions of the leading corrupt neoliberal Tory and Blairite politicians alike who plotted for 40 years to dismantle our NHS by stealth, for crimes against humanity. But it won’t happen – as usual justice for our unnecessarily dead friends, loved ones, and fellow citizens generally, will not be achieved short of an insurrection.
And thats why my wife and I feel safer in a 3rd World country than being a victim of a lunatic regime,who appear to want to play Scientific experiments with us the elderly and throw away the key.The reports coming out of Britain are alarming to put it mildly.and traveling long haul with layovers is just rolling the dice.ITs unbelievable that the Torys have managed to convince people like me that Britain is a No Go area for the elderly.
I don’t know what the situation in Cambodia is like but I can’t imagine they have a policy of turning on the virus tap every other month to deliberately infect another chunk of the population to establish herd immunity (and cull the very expensive economically inactive Over 70’s) Plus a long journey where frankly you couldn’t be certain of not getting trapped (probably by the French, always ‘interested’ in Cambodia; maybe they’ll offer you a job!)
And there’s no beer here so it’s not a country you would recognise. I think by Christmas there will be big trouble but if it’s a change in Government there will be plenty of support to get you back for what could be the reward for all of this! Take care!
jpenney. “mass judicial executions” Are you crazy? Priti Patel solutions are not acceptable under any circumstances if we wish to call ourselves civilised! any more than it is to let the sick die in agony because our NHS has been deprived of funding and resources.
Desperate to protect your criminal corrupt politician paymasters from the wrath of the rest of us, you sad constant troll, Jack T ? I failed to spot any ‘civilised behaviour’ from the utterly corrupt Blairites when in office they started the stealth privatisation programmes in education and the NHS, and started up the cruel disability assessments ( thanks Yvette Cooper) and the general tightening of the screw on the unemployed generally. And I failed to spot the ‘civilised behaviour’ from those Tories and Lib Dems who have deliberately gutted our vital NHS services over the last ten years, and driven millions into poverty by their economic policies, and driven too many to starvation and suicide through their deliberately cruel ‘Poor Law’ model Universal Credit , disability benefits cuts, and ‘Bedroom Tax’. Still, musn’t get annoyed and demand fitting retribution on behalf of those millions who have suffered, eh ? After all, as that movie mafioso don said, ‘it wasn’t personal – only business’ !
But don’t wet yourself , Jack T, the always gullible UK public will probably raise a statue to Boris Johnson, rather than shooting him, in pathetic gratitude for his failed strategy ‘only’ costing us the circa 250,000 deaths that the ‘success’ of their extended period multiple peak version of the original big bang herd immunity ‘strategy’ now vainly hopes for !
jpenney, I’m not the least bit surprised that you try and defend your barbaric utterances. Mass ‘legalised’ murder is what your mates the Zionists have been committing against the Palestinians for decades.
jack t
If you’re NOT obsessed with jew-baiting, WHY have you shoehorned a comment about zionists &zionism into a thread that has nothing to do with zionism?
You’re a weirdo and a sadsack. Just because you get your arse handed to you on just about everything, it somehow makes the person owning you a zionist.
I also noticed you made no denial or protest about the bliarite supporting accusations made about you.
Toffee, when jpenney suggests capital punishment for our politicians, as much as it may appeal to you and jpenney, he was using hate speech.
jpenney as you will be aware, just like yourself, has criticised any condemnation of Zionists in the Labour Party who plotted to bring down Corbyn. At my suggestion that jpenney was exhibiting the same brutal mindset as fellow Zionists in Palestine, you immediately tried to conflate Zionism with Judaism with your despicable ‘Jew hating’ remark.
I would remind you that groups such as Jewish Voice for Labour and Jewish Voice for Peace object to any association between Zionism and Judaism. Therefore it is YOU who is trying to shoehorn anti-Semitism into the comments with your attempts to conflate Zionism with Judaism.
Jack I still know a few people in Britain and a couple of them are on So Called Benefits that many of my generation thought of as “Social Security” .People are and have been deliberately murdered in this Tory version of what my father and grandfather fought for..We need to be reminded and often just how many have died before the virus ever came to Britian.One Hundred thousand people In a Austerity experiment and even more when the virus experiment takes hold..And that is why I have been convinced by my wife and son including my grandchildren to keep as far away from Britain and the USA has possible..The hundred thousand is increasingly sinister and many more including pensioners on the ridiculous state pension that wouldnt even pay the bar 🍸 bill for our Corrupt MPS of all partys.Do I think that people are going to be “Mass judicial executions ‘,yes I most certainly do.Jack if you have ever hidden inside a loft space or under a floor fearing that a British soldier would execute you for demonstrating for the right to vote as I have then you would know that the British establishment are capable of anything including mass murder..Some people need to get real about “For what we are about to recieve” .
Joseph, sorry, I have to ask if you really understood what jpenney was advocating? He was suggesting that we introduce mass capital punishment. Do you REALLY think we should return to that sort of barbarism? No nation which considers its self civilised should even contemplate such inhuman measures. It’s the legalised murder that is synonymous with the far right NOT with enlightened Socialism.
Oh jack give yer arse a chance ffs.
Similar things to what jpenney describes have happened before. Have you forgotten the Liverpool care pathway?
Think there’s no chance that could be reinstated?
Toffee, only in your twisted mind has the Liverpool care pathway anything to do with Capital Punishment! Go on, give us some convoluted explanation.
Jack I did get the wrong end of the stick,must be getting out of bed syndrome as we get older.No I do not advocate any type of official state murder.But I am not a pacifist and I believe that there are limits to what the population should endure and I think we will get there soon with the Tory establishment.I do believe in the version of the belief that There is a time for fighting back and the idea that only one side kills is not my way of fighting back in a war like situation.I would never stand by and watch loved ones threatened or killed and I will remind you that I have been in that situation and replied accordingly without worrying over the life of the attacker.State sponsered murder requires a just reply.
Thanks Joseph, stay safe ✊
Sadly, the Thatcherite mindset of “f**k you jack, my parachutes open” has pervaded society from top to bottom.
If you was to ask most people today what they consider ‘essential roles’ …
…No doubt 9 out of 10 would say “bogrolls”.
In recognition and support of our NHS Staff , a truly heroic bunch and as a Nation if we all don’t collectively come together to demand from this sick bunch of bastards called Tories , that they fully fund forever without question our NHS, then as a Nation we don’t deserve to survive .
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NHSCovidHeroes&src=trend_click
While you fight amongst yourselves these people who are still in the NHS are the ones who are fighting this virus without proper mask and such that would atleast stop them getting it but sadly we have allowed the NHS to be starved of everything but sadly some have got it right under these Tory’s austerity program it’s culled many through benefits denial we allowed it without showing our disgust at these creatures who profain to be Christians allowed them yes my English is getting worst but then don’t fight amongst yourselves you need to take the fight to them