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of citizens and it’s rightly welcomed, yet we’re told we can’t afford it or shouldn’t provide it for the minority of citizens who would usually receive benefits. My friend didn’t like that, nor when I said such massive economic aid was needed because 10 years of Tory cuts had 2/
reduced the NHS, social systems, public services etc to such an extent that the virus very nearly overwhelmed us, hence the drastic action and consequent economic hit. Did she not agree that govt showed no strategic foresight & downright recklessness with the cuts made to NHS 3/
previously? That the findings & recommendations of the pandemic exercise were disregarded by this govt so they could reduce our PPE stockpile & save money? Did she not agree that the govt were too slow, too cavalier, too inept to manage the early days effectively, when we had 4/
a chance to slow the spread and if we’d done that, the extent of the economic stimulus would have been less so ultimately the Govt’s actions will cost us more than it might have. Did she not agree that if it hadn’t been for the public purse cuts, the NHS would not have been 5/
so vulnerable & then even if the Covid reaction was still mismanaged, the drastic economic action may not have been necessary. Ultimately, did she now see how the austerity agenda to bail out the banks instead of taxing the wealthy & corporations was completely inappropriate 6/
and damaging to society. She wasn’t happy with me and didn’t want to discuss any of my questions and points. That was at the start of lockdown. We’ve spoken once since and agreed how awful the care home culling was. I said the Govt must be held to account for decisions such as 7/
that, and voters had to recognise their responsibility for creating the political environment we’re in. I said it’s easy for some voters to ignore the impact of economic policies which are harmful to others when it benefits the voter & they never experience the real-world 8/
pain of support being withdrawn, services being cut, medical care being unavailable or unaffordable. But then along came the pandemic and suddenly everyone is affected because of those cuts & the current shoddy Govt. And suddenly everyone is desperate to tell the NHS how 9/
valued it is, willing to donate millions in an urgent crisis instead of by taxation and proper planned distribution over the years, falling over themselves to clap for those low status workers who are suddenly rightly revered. I said one of the silver linings of Covid I hoped 10/
would be recognition from voters that their votes and continuous support of this Govt are responsible for the place we find ourselves. I said I hoped voters acknowledge that & figure out whether their reasons for voting Tory are worth the rest of what comes with it, which may 11/
have escaped their notice before. I said I hoped voters would try to change party policies they didn’t expect to be carried out in their name, even if they still vote for the same party. And I said that voters who are genuinely content with the “side-effects” of how they vote 12/
should say so & defend those views robustly. My friend wasn’t interested in talking about any of this & cut the call short. I could tell she was annoyed & I was too. I thought back fondly to when we were both on the same side briefly for the Brexit vote, having been 13/
political opposites since school, although we’ve never fallen out over our politics before. I left off contacting her for a few weeks & sent a purely chatty text last week. I’ve always been political & all my school friends found it irritating or amusing when I talked about 13/
stuff like NI, the miners’ strike, the teachers’ strike, or marched to oppose the NF, the BNP, the EDL, poll tax, police brutality, racism, misogyny etc. It never used to be every convo I had but of course I’ve got worse since 2016. I tell friends to unfollow me on FB if 14/
they want to and I won’t be offended as it is mainly political. After the GE I accepted we wouldn’t stop Brexit or get a better informed vote on it so stopped actively campaigning but vowed I would point out negative consequences of Brexit as they arose, who was responsible, 15/
the lies and manipulation used to get the Brexit votes, and how even though many ppl feel hoodwinked now they realise what they’ve brought about, we have been telling you so for years ie #wefuckingtoldyouso #projectfearnotsomucheh so take responsibility now & work with us to 16/
at least prevent a catastrophic No Deal scenario. I said to my mum - well, if it’s No Deal at least we know that’s rock bottom. I enjoyed a few weeks of watching the Govt fuck things up & ppl realising how truly inept & corrupt many MPs are, how sullied is what should be a 17/
noble role. I enjoyed the break from active campaigning and angst. I accept Brexit now & at peace with no power to change it. We’ve left. We’ll probably rejoin if they’ll have us in the future but no point wasting time & energy on that now. The Leaver/Remainer divide, for me, 18/
has gone but I worried about whether we would ever reunite & leave the division behind.
Then along came Covid & as terrible and terrifying as it was I felt positive too coz I thought surely, this will bring us all together. The NHS is treasured by most of us, regardless how 19/
Then along came Covid & as terrible and terrifying as it was I felt positive too coz I thought surely, this will bring us all together. The NHS is treasured by most of us, regardless how 19/
we vote on anything. And for a while, it felt like it was happening. Out on the streets clapping & cheering, talking to strangers, being caring & helpful to our communities, most of us criticising the frightened, idiotic & selfish panic buying minority. I felt as though we 20/
could see clearly & immediately the impact of political & personal decisions and were better for it. The righteous outrage at Govt decision making was palpable & their performance so awful, by accident or design, I was sure citizens would demand answers & accountability 21/
(I will get to the point soon if anyone’s still reading this, I promise. I doubt anyone is but the venting is helping me.)
I felt hopeful for the future - that collectively we would demand & get better government, more capable and compassionate MPs. That more of us would 22/
I felt hopeful for the future - that collectively we would demand & get better government, more capable and compassionate MPs. That more of us would 22/
realise the importance of & actively support proper long term investment in the NHS & social systems by demanding appropriate taxation of the wealthy and corporations. That ideas like UBI, broadband for all & flexible working bring real benefits & value to society & worth 23/
fighting for increased appropriate taxation to pay for it, instead of being frightened by the thought of paying more tax ourselves. We would learn from the pandemic & change our next normal into something better than what went before.
But something’s changed. I noticed 24/
But something’s changed. I noticed 24/
when Johnson was admitted to hospital that criticism of his actions & communication prior to being infected was shot down by many on SM as Remainer bitterness and/or a plot to derail Brexit. Same with challenging easing restrictions, science behind Govt strategy, PPE scandal 25/
care homes, Cummings. They’re reframing Covid in terms of the Brexit divide. It was VE Day I think when I added “Covid is the new Brexit” as that’s when it became brutally clear for me. If you rightly venerate the VE generation you should be appalled by the most vulnerable 26/
of that generation being treated how they have been, those pushed from hospitals to care homes with no C19 tests, those in care homes where infected patients have gone to, families stopped from visiting & believing that was protecting their loved ones. The Govt sacrificed 27/
the VE gen again, who would probably be happy to do so for us if asked, but the risk & reality of what was done was hidden from us all. The Govt did that so hospital beds & staff were available for C19 patients. Beds, staff, resources which the same Govt had pared to the bone 28/
So VE Day felt hollow, hypocritical & besmirched for me. Up here in the NE it seemed also to afford white nationalists the opportunity to proudly display despicable flags & signs with overtly racist slogans. The absolute antithesis of why we fought the Nazis. Let them have 29/
their day, I thought. They’re celebrating their Brexit really, rather than paying tribute to the VE gen. The very next day I regretted not calling the police to complain about those flags, which I just didn’t think of at the time. I realised by letting it slide I was 30/
complicit in emboldening all that awful shit. I felt terrible & have done ever since. & then Cummings goings came out & the anger from both Brexit supporters & opponents was huge. But again it’s been framed by many as Brexit-related. I don’t even talk about Brexit nowadays 31/
except to say that in this pandemic I think the best approach for our country is to extend the transition. Hardcore Brexity types seem to think that will somehow be used to prevent our exit, even though we’ve left already. I guess they need something to feel different to 32/
be reassured that we’re out of the EU. The Govt’s dogmatic refusal to participate in EU cooperation on the pandemic to prove our sovereignty was lost on these it seems, making the resultant increased death toll even more unnecessary. So the only ppl dragging Brexit into it 33/
are the ones who want Brexit, & they’re pretending that criticism of the govt on C-19 are Remainy plots to prevent our exit, even though that’s impossible. Manipulating ppl yet again through fear & scapegoating to create an artificial majority & division. Why & is it working? 34/
Is it to ensure a No Deal exit by 31 December. Are they still hell bent on it despite the additional challenges of the pandemic? Seems like it. “Wealth before health” has never been so obvious & hard to hide when everybody is affected in some way & incredibly tragic 35/
events are being endured by so many. Many people do seem to be swayed by the Brexit framing of the criticism of Govt & won’t hold them to account whatever happens but others will & given how Govt has handled it so far, we can be sure of further ineptitude, compounded by the 36/
strain & challenges a No Deal exit on 31 December, winter when NHS is always under immense pressure, will bring. The Govt might try to misdirect & blame C-19 for negative economic impacts of No Deal but that draws attention back to their C-19 mismanagement. Any party would 37/
find it difficult to manage either a No Deal exit OR a pandemic but this Govt is taking both on at once & proving spectacularly awful in plain sight. They must be held accountable, properly scrutinised & the causality of their policies and strategies demonstrated. Then ppl 38/
might start to understand how voting without considering how different demographics are impacted, the sort of society & communities they want means things happen in their name that they might be horrified by. The Govt doesn’t want voters thinking critically so will resist 39/
any reckonings. Which finally brings me to the point I planned to make much earlier in this thread. So I’m determined to talk, politely & respectfully, with as many Tory voters as I can about the Govt’s handling of C-19, to try & get them to accept their responsibility for 40/
the state the NHS/social care is in because they let the govt inflict the austerity agenda on those areas to fix the economy & bail out the banks so that low taxes & profit was protected. Their decisions over the last 10 years brought us here, & if they didn’t realise the 41/
damage those policies caused, they can see it writ large now. I ask how they feel about it & hence the convo with my friend I first described. She wouldn’t be swayed by the Brexit framing, although she does think I’m only going on about it coz I “hate the Tories”. Yes, I 42/
fucking hate the Tories, and this is why!!! This selfish, me first, me only, the poor are shirkers, why should I pay more tax to pay for social services I’ll never use, I pay for private health care - why should the NHS be free for others by my taxes, privilege isn’t a thing 43/
bankers earn their big money making profits, why should I pay more tax so doctors & nurses & teachers & social workers & care workers & civil servants get decent pay, who cares if disadvantaged kids don’t eat when school dinners aren’t available, economy over society belief 44/
system is what their votes engender. I want them to recognise that’s who they are, & if they don’t like those values as theirs, then they need to tell the MPs they voted for what they do want to support. Now is the time to have these discussions, while ppl can see it 45/
happening & should face up to the reality. I do hate the Tories but I’m not making up their mismanagement of C-19 & why the NHS was so vulnerable in the first place. Anyway so all that is why I was talking politics to my friend, as it’s voters like her I try to get through to 46/
So, back to the pure chatty text I sent my friend last week, no politics mentioned as I knew she’d been annoyed last time remember, to which she sent a chatty one back saying she hoped we’d be able to meet soon & a last line which said “but only if you don’t talk politics”. 47/
I was fuming. So I waited a few days before replying & sent a much shorter précis of this thread to explain why I wanted Tory voters to accept responsibility for what their votes brought about & whether they would now think differently about higher taxation & corporation tax 48/
and said ignoring these impacts & voting Tory in the past for whatever reasons alone is why we’re here. I said I’d stop talking politics to her if she accepts how her votes have done this, is content to let these impacts slide & happy with the societal impact. Or we’ll have 49/
to hold off meeting until the political landscape is calmer again as I won’t be censored & don’t want to irritate her. She said my text was highly offensive and we shouldn’t meet until we can respect each other’s views. I replied I don’t know her views as she won’t talk 50/
politics! I lost friends over Brexit as the values they espoused in discussions didn’t sit well with mine. I don’t know if this friend break will be permanent but guess so if I insist on trying to get her to acknowledge the impact of her vote & she refuses to. Sigh. End. Finally.
