Corona response – the Tories don’t give a F**K about you

I can’t think of a way to describe the mendacious, selfish, callous and wilful stupidity of the Tory response to the Corona virus that doesn’t sound like a cliche.

We have been here so many times before, welcome once again to Omnishambles Country.

That the Tories should serve up one their signature clusterfucks was inevitable – few of them understand anything beyond their own languid sense of entitlement, narcissism, greed and low brow cunning.

It will bring no comfort whatsoever to families who are about to lose loved ones ‘before their time’ that the usual suspects have been muttering about doing nothing for quite a while now.

The invisible man, the empty toff shop front that passes as our two mugs patriarch (‘World’s most absent father!’ –  ‘World’s dumbest Prime Minister!’) has bumbled into a couple of press conferences to suggest that people are going to die and that pensioners ought not to book on cruises. Stand by for the government clampdown on vinyl record players so that the elderly don’t waste their time putting on a long playing record. After all – this is a party that is to put Chris Grayling in charge of an intelligence committee.

A resume of the omnishambles so far:

It has faithfully followed the four stage strategy towards any crisis as outlined in Yes Minster.

Nothing is happening.

Incredibly the world has been aware of the possibility of the existence and spread of Covid 19 since January 7th. The Tory response for weeks and months since then has been to deny by omission that there was any serious threat to the UK from the virus.

Something is happening but we should do nothing about it.

Even the studied indifference of Whitehall was mildly penetrated by the rolling news coverage of health panics and urgent action being taken (by other governments) across the globe – so the issue was acknowledged but not deemed worthy of novel government attention.

People were told not to catch the virus (if possible) and to stay away from overcrowded hospitals. The only Tory requirement of an otherwise agreeably (for them) toothless government is to shield capital and themselves from us. They have no ABSOLUTELY no interest in pensioners in Oldham shivering with fever. 

We ought to be doing something but there is nothing we can do.

This is the current phase. Responding appropriately to the Corona virus will damage the only two things that Tories truly care about: GDP and the stock market and defend something they truly don’t care about – vulnerable people and the elderly.

Despite their loyal support, the tories are quite happy to throw elderly people under the Covid-19 bus so as not to inconvenience business interests on treasure island.

This is what lay behind their insane ‘herd immunity’ policy,  it was a PR gimmick – a charter to disguise wilfull lethargy as strategy. 

Even as governments all over the world are scrambling to protect their citizens Whitehall is still indolently dragging its leaden and reluctant feet for as long as it can.

A token ban on public gatherings has been ‘signalled’ to the media (no timescale or plans are yet available) – but this has only happened because a nation desperate for leadership had begun to take matters into its own hands. Sports and community organisations got tired of waiting for lofty and ineffectual pronouncements  from Downing Street and delivered the kind of swift and decisive action that the government has been desperate to avoid. 

Maybe there was something we could have done – but its too late now…  

This is the stage we’ll move into shortly – the Westminster spin machines will crank up with patriotic zeal – ‘Britain can take it!’ we’ll be told.

The global nature of the crisis will be talked up and the utter indifference of the British response played down.  Bojo will be ferried around on helicopters to a few carefully stage managed photo opportunities where bullied NHS staff will be forced to adopt paper smiles so as to be used as props for another campaign of lies.

Figures will be fiddled, the emergency services will be praised and ‘thoughts and prayers’ offered – after the bodies have been buried Bojo will shove off to Mustique for another holiday – the fronting of creative inertia is an awfully tiresome business you know. 

To channel the late great George Carlin…

What will it take for ordinary British people who vote Tory to finally wake up and realise that Tories don’t give a fuck about them? Will the Tory non-response to the Corona virus finally break the spell that the public schoolboy set has over British political life?

To everyone who voted Tory at the last election (and I don’t care what Brexit enabled feebleness possessed you to do it) I say this ONE LAST TIME in the hope that Coviod-19 will be the national calamity that finally allows you to wake up:

The Tories don’t give – a – FUCK – about – YOU

.

Its already clear that the UK government has tried absolutely nothing in its efforts to contain Covid-19. Going forwards every stone will remain unturned in its non-efforts to care about the little people.

The reasons for this are clear and outlined perfectly in this little gem of a snippet from The Guardian:

“School closures lasting four weeks could cut 3% from the UK’s GDP, costing the economy billions of pounds, according to research being considered by the government as it weighs up the benefits and risks of shutting down classrooms.”

Advisers at the Department for Education and No 10 are examining a range of options from complete closure of all schools and colleges in England, which would affect around 7 million children, to more nuanced policies.”

 More nuanced policies indeed! 

For many readers of Sodium Haze the erm..nuances of the Tory response to Covid-19 will not be lost on them. It is entirely consistent with the Tory response to everything from climate change to homelessness, from food banks to social care – money talks and every other moral consideration walks. 

For everyone else that might read this release of anger and frustration I plead with you to grasp the only good that might yet come from the Covid-19 outbreak – the final unmasking of the Conservative Party. 

If the Tories can cover up this, if they can spin this – if we tolerate this and rewards them for this…then the UK is stuffed as a nation and capable of anything…

…well anything except competence in service of compassion and morality. 

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.     

Follow Sodium Haze on Facebook