New Zealand has seen twenty-five COVID-19 deaths. In total.
The SKWAWKBOX has received a moving video of a simple time when proud parents and grandparents could pack tightly into a school hall to watch their children receive recognition for their hard work in class.
Today.
The video, taken by a friend of SKWAWKBOX editor Steve Walker and used with permission, shows his daughter receiving an award at her school – in New Zealand:
The proud young girl even receives a hug and kiss from the teachers presenting the award.
New Zealand has suffered just over 2,000 cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began, with 25 deaths – because as an island nation its Prime MInister seized the opportunity to close borders and ensure that the virus never took hold enough to overwhelm attempts to eliminate it, instead of boasting how well prepared her country was and sitting back while disaster arrived.
As a result, life in New Zealand today looks much like it did a year ago. But to the UK, which has suffered tens of thousands of needless deaths and one of the worst economic collapses in the developed world, it looks like archive footage of a lost era, with scientists warning that even a vaccine is unlikely to restore normality for a long period yet.
The people of this country are still being misled enough by politicians and the media that many of them don’t properly realise what a disaster the UK has suffered, let alone how different it could have been with a decent government – or even an ‘opposition’ that actually opposes instead of approving everything the Tories are doing as if there were no better options.
The proud dad told the SKWAWKBOX, “We won the leadership lottery” – but New Zealand is not the only country whose government responded better to the crisis than that of the UK. Islands Japan and Iceland and peninsula South Korea also showed how different things could be when governments exploited their geographic good fortune for the good of their people.
When the Tories boast, or the media tell you that the UK pandemic was unavoidable and focus on scenes from hard-hit landlocked countries, they’re lying to you.
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