I wasn't going to post this...

But after some consideration, decided that though this is just the rantings of a scared and angry person, it is better that they go out there in the ether, rather than just being stuck inside me!

Like so many of us, I don’t know where I am or what I’m doing most of the time right now. The world has gone crazy and things just don’t make much sense anymore. COVID-19 has made headlines across the world. Some good things are coming out of this crisis, of course. In some areas people are pulling together, helping out their neighbours and doing things to raise money to support our hard-hit NHS. But mostly the news is shit. The death toll is frightening, only going to get worse – and could so easily have been kept much lower if only there had been the intelligence and the will to do so amongst our amoral and useless political elite.

When I look at the way other countries are facing this pandemic, I wonder how the hell the UK got to the stage where we are run by such utter incompetents. Even worse, they think we don’t realise they are idiots because so many other nicompoops bought their bullshit and voted them in. I think Brexit and the current situation we find ourselves in just show that the UK is not fit for purpose.

We very clearly have let down over half of the population in regards to their receiving a quality education. We have let everyone down, allowing trashy tabloid rags to print bullshit so that undereducated people have their heads filled with lies – and believe it even when actual evidence stares them in the face. We should have put tighter curbs on social media, insisting that platforms take down lies and propaganda. We should have made sure our NHS truly was the envy of the world – rather than just claiming it was while we let successive governments strip it bare.

I am angry. I am afraid. I am tired. And I don’t know what to believe any more.

I want to believe that people are inherently good. I want to believe that they care about their fellow men. But the hatred and vitriol that reared its ugly head during the Brexit vote has even managed to make the response to a fucking pandemic bi-partisan. There is no wrong or right on this one folks.

There is simply doing everything we can to prevent its spread.

We either get in our houses and stay safe, or we run the risk of infecting ourselves and others. If we must go out, we should be wearing masks and gloves – not for our own sake – but for the sake of NHS workers, care staff, retail workers, delivery people etc. etc. who are still working and need us to be vigilant on their behalf. Keep 2m apart, unless you live in the same house. Don’t go to fucking parties unless you are attending via zoom or some other media. Don’t be a prick.

Yes, those dying tend to be older, with underlying health conditions – but do you want your Mum, your Dad, your mate with asthma, your cousin with an autoimmune disease, your grandad to die because you just had to go out and sunbathe with your mate you don’t live with in the fucking park?

I am hoping that the answer to this question is that of course you don’t want anyone to die. In which case, start observing the rules.

• Don’t pop round to your family for Sunday lunch.

• Don’t arrange to meet up with people on your ‘exercise’.

• Wear a mask, homemade is good. You don’t know if you are an asymptomatic carrier, so behave as if you might be.

• Wash your bloody hands with soap and water all the fucking time.

• Don’t go out unless you have to.

• Go to the supermarket alone.

• Wait patiently in line.

• Do not crowd the staff.

• Don’t harangue them because your favourite type of baked beans has run out – it isn’t their fault.

• Be kind.

• Be patient.

But above all, think about someone other than yourself.

Key workers are going through hell, at massive risk because of increased viral load. They are scared. But they are still getting up every day and going to work, pinning on a smile, collecting our rubbish, driving buses and trains, delivering parcels and shopping, being polite to arsey customers, taking care of the elderly and disabled, caring for the sick and trying to save as many lives as they can.

Say thank you every time you get a delivery. Say thank you every time you speak to a member of shop staff. Clap for our carers on Thursday evenings. Give to charities raising money for precious PPE for those on the frontlines. Question our government and whether what they are doing is enough.

We can make a difference. Our government responds to what ends up on the front page of the Daily Mail. If we are all pissed off enough with them they will try harder, they will do more – and now is the time to do so. If we wait until it is all over to question them, who knows how many people we know and love will have been lost.