All Together - In The Altogether

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Two more examples of the fatuous, headline and soundbite-grabbing ethos we currently have to endure: an enquiry into the handling of the Covid crisis deferred until spring 2022, and a proposed statue to the frontline workers who have actually been physically and intellectually instrumental in our getting through this thing, despite the best efforts of the PM and his government to scupper things at every step. The simple facts are that:

a) Questions over the initial, laggardly response to the coming crisis, lock/un-lockdown timings, allocation of dodgy contracts, cronyism and much more need answering now - not when the heat has gone from the moment and those responsible have moved on to pastures new. Official enquiries have few legal teeth and statutes of limitation should not allow the culpable to hide behind an officially-confected history.

b) Frontline workers, in particular NHS staff need a substantial hike in remuneration for their skill, dedication and frankly, bravery for their efforts on our behalf. Statues do not put bread on the table or pay the bills: they are a cheap and high-profile stunt on behalf of an establishment reluctant to use our money for what we want and need. Nursing staff in particular deserve a significant pay rise - end of.

c) The issue of long-term care of the elderly, sick and vulnerable needs to be state-funded and NHS organised; not a business opportunity for the private sector, draining the very resources that people have often worked long and hard to save: both for their retirement and for the benefit of their children. Prudence, thrift and inheritance it seems, whilst always encouraged in the hoi polloi by the Conservatives, in the end count for bugger-all for the majority and serve only the wealthy and connected, who only seem to practice the inheritance part of the concept, anyway.

There you go - more of the same for the rest of this government's term and probably beyond - one day, the people of this country will wake from this dream-state and see the naked Emperor before them. I can only live in hope.

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