Kakistocracy IX:How Does It Feel To Be The Father Of One Hundred Thousand Dead?

"Your arrogance has gutted these bodies of life, your deceit fooled them that it was worth the sacrifice. Your lies persuaded people to accept the wasted blood, your filthy pride cleansed you of the doubt you should have had" - How Does It Feel? - Crass

How Does It Feel? by Crass was written about Margaret Thatcher and The Falklands War but we can, today, repurpose many of its lyrics to the mishandling of a pandemic by an even worse PM - Boris Johnson - an even worse cabinet, and the predictable and predicted far far higher death toll than the one thousand dead cited by Crass. A death toll which now, according to the ONS (Office of National Statistics), stands north of one hundred thousand and was said to be at 107,907 as far back as January 15th.

This grim milestone, that many could see on the horizon some time ago, has finally been reached - and surpassed - and that's not due to UK population density, average age of the UK population, the obesity of the public, because there were BLM marches in the summer, or because two women met at a reservoir in Derbyshire for a walk and a cup of coffee.

It's been met because our government lied when we needed truth, blustered when we needed assurance, and divided when we needed unifying. By many reports we have the highest per head death toll on the planet and the only nations above us in the list of overall deaths are the USA (the Trump effect), Brazil, India, and Mexico. All of which have considerably larger populations.

When Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid interviewed the Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey this morning she claimed the outrageously high death toll was due to the average age of the UK population and the level of obesity. When Morgan asked her if she was blaming the public for being too old or too fat, Coffey said she thought that was offensive although he'd merely paraphrased her words and thrown them back at her. It was her first appearance on GMB for eight months after refusing to go on, much as most government ministers refuse to be interviewed on, or held to account by, Newsnight and judging by the way she promptly ended her Zoom call it'll be even longer before she reappears.

You can argue about the reason a person died of Covid-19 (age, obesity, our new favourite the underlying health condition) but you can't deny that person has a right to have lived and been looked after or dismiss their death as seemingly inevitable as Coffey chose to. You can also argue the definition of a Covid-19 death and, indeed, I've heard people claim that though many of the people who have died have done so within twenty-eight days of a positive test they may have died of other causes. Being run over by a bus always seems to be cited as an example but I've not heard of a global pandemic of bus drivers running people over and it seems unlikely bus drivers have suddenly, weirdly, lost their ability to drive properly. Most of are stuck indoors most days so we don't even get the chance to get run over by a bus. 

When people chose to express these theories, as I have heard many do, they are simply making excuses for a purposefully negligent and incompetent government and refusing to hold them to account. They don't even seem to be on message with each other in the cabinet these days. Matt Hancock says restrictions will stay in place at almost exactly the same time as Johnson announced they're thinking about lifting them. 

It makes them look incompetent and in a way they are but the incompetence, or performative pretence of it, is part of the bigger strategy. If they divide us enough, distract us enough so as we're all shouting at, and snitching on, each other they're getting away with it - and will probably continue too. They've found a way to work this pandemic to their favour.

As have done the ten richest people in the world (among them likely candidates like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg) who have increased their personal fortunes by £400bn (£40bn each on average) since the start of the pandemic. Just as many others fear starvation, death, inability to feed or clothe their families, eventual homelessness, unemployment, anxiety, and depression.

It'd be nice to see these mega-billionaires help out but, like the Johnson administration, they're, for the most part, in it for themselves so I wouldn't bank on it. Instead we have to help each other and not rely on the government or tech giants to come to our aid. That's difficult when you live alone and can't meet up with people.

I'm sure I'll catch up with some friends soon but since I last wrote on this subject I've not seen anyone IRL. Luckily I've been kept comparatively sane by chatting with Michelle, Adam, Shep, Vicki, Simon, Ian, Chris, Neil, Pam, Kathy, Darren, Cheryl, Tony and my parents and by doing quizzes with the Kahoot gang and good news has come with the vaccinations, something this country is handling exceedingly well - so far. Both my dad and my friend Valia have had their first jab. I've also lifted the spirits with walks in and around Dulwich Park and Peckham Rye Park and, as ever, with music and television.

Which has been helpful as these last two or three weeks have, for me, been the toughest, mentally, of the whole pandemic. I'm hanging in there and starting to feel better and more positive about myself. I only wish I could feel better and more positive about the future of the UK. In all honesty, I don't believe it has one. Not under this kakistocracy.