Tories throw working class under the bus – but promise ‘whatever it takes’ for the rich

Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar adopted Churchillian gravitas yesterday to warn about the seriousness of the Coronavirus outbreak and that lots of people are going to die.

When right wing politicians invoke war time stylings it rarely ends well for the working class.

It’s very important in moments like these that ordinary folks don’t roll over and let the owning class tickle them on the belly – but many seem happy enough to be spoon fed warm diarrhea by the usual suspects. This is oh so typical of the UK – vulture capitalists don’t call the place  ‘treasure island’ for nothing.     

When corporate media hacks and politicians are trying to gaslight you, it’s important to ask the questions a child would ask. It cuts through to the truth.

So with a child’s innocence and curiosity, take a step back from all the media hullabaloo and ask the following –

if this disease is so serious and contagious:

* Why are we not implementing measures taken elsewhere to contain this virus? 

* Why are families still doing the school run?

* Why is everybody still at work?

* Why are there no travel restrictions – particularly from the most infected areas?

* Why is there still no widespread system of testing and onward contact tracing?

* Why are NHS staff on the front line still lacking basic protective clothing and masks?

One nation where the spread of this virus has been arrested is China. Why are we not doing what China did?

This is what the Chinese did in four weeks in Wuhan, Hubei Province from about the 20th of January. 

1. All public transport suspended.
2. Wuhan Airport, railway station, and metro closed.
3. Major highways leaving Wuhan closed.
4. Public transportation systems in neighboring cities suspended.
5. Twelve other cities in Hubei placed under strict travel restrictions affecting 50 million. 
6. On 1 February in Huanggang only one household member allowed outside once every two days, except for medical reasons (or to work in essential shops and pharmacies). Similar measures adopted across mainland China. 
7. On the 13th February 2020, all non-essential companies, including manufacturing plants were shut down in Hubei Province.
8. On the 20th February 2020, all non-essential companies and schools in Hubei Province were closed until March 10th.

While doing this, the Chinese:

• Built a massive quarantine hospital.
• Undertook a huge program of testing.
• Implemented an unprecedented program of disinfection operations.

Meanwhile in the UK…

1950 (confirmed) cases so far and 71 deaths. Steep increases now expected.

The UK’s action has lagged behind Europe in every possible way.

1. All schools and workplaces remain open
2. No mandatory restriction on pubs and restaurants.
3. No internal travel restrictions
4. No lock down measures of any kind in London (the most affected city) or anywhere else
5. No travel restrictions between infected areas
6. All public transport running normally
7. No thought given to the plight of workers in crowded call centres and offices 
8. Royal Ascot went ahead as normal
9. NHS whistle blowers warn that front line staff lack basic protection
10. NHS now planning 7.9 million hospitalisations
11. NHS woefully under-prepared – NHS staff will have to choose who lives and who dies. 
12. NHS lacks emergency beds (amongst the lowest in Europe) and has nowhere enough ventilators.

What has the UK government done for ordinary citizens?

• It has issued advice about hand washing and social distancing (hard to do that on a crammed tube train on the way to work, or at school in the UK’s oft dilapidated and overcrowded classrooms).
• Suggested that people ought not to go to pubs.
• Signposted that elderly people might have to self isolate for four months.
• Issued guidelines about self isolating with no enforcement.
• No support for people who simply cannot afford to stop work for weeks on end.
• Temporary mortgage relief for home owners (nothing for renters)
• £3.6 million offered to local authorities to hide homeless people that contract Covid-19. 
• £2.4 million a day to rent beds in private hospitals. Spain by contrast just requisitioned the beds it needed.    

What has the UK government done for capital and the owning class?

• £330 billion of cheap credit 
• £20 billion of grants 
• Chancellor says he will do ‘whatever it takes’ to protect the interests of business. 

The government is racing to bail out the owning class while throwing the working class under the bus. That is why your kids are at school and you are at work: they don’t want to lose profits and GDP.    

The Chinese did ‘whatever it takes’ to protect people; the Tories by contrast are doing ‘whatever it takes’ to protect capital. 

The UK government’s attitude is not merely cavalier and grotesquely incompetent: it is criminal. 

All we can do now is to try to hold them to account. The corporate media will actively collude with them so we will have to do it ourselves. 

We must not allow Boris Johnson to become a mourner in chief.  This disaster was avoidable but the Tories have chosen to protect the interests of the big club – and we ain’t in it. 

Since 2013 I have worked between 4-6 hours a day on this Ad-Free site: trying to give a voice to those without the power or agency to speak out for themselves and uncovering truths that well paid journalists in the corporate media dare not utter.

I am a home schooling parent on a low income – paying for the domain, web hosting and security entirely out of my own pocket.  

If you found this article useful and could spare us a few shillings to help keep our lights on, it would be very much appreciated.

Thank you in solidarity with all our readers. John Lynch, Editor.     

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