I'm sure we all appreciate what NHS workers (and others) are doing on our behalf during the current crisis, but having just been woken up from a much-needed sleep by people clapping out on the street (some quieter than others), I can't help but think it's a pretty empty gesture as most NHS workers won't have heard it. In fact, of those who did, some were probably trying to get a bit of rest after a long hard shift and found their repose as disturbed as mine was.
Whose idea was it to suggest such an action? And why, like sheep, do we so readily fall into step with such pointless 'political' posturing? Clapping's one thing, but when people start whooping like Americans at the Super Bowl, it's going a step too far. Show your appreciation for the nurses, doctors, carers, etc., by doing something more useful. Boris, give them a raise or/and pay them double-time while the pandemic is ongoing, and make sure they have the essentials to do their job with minimum risk to themselves. Man in the street, drop a big tub of chocolates into their workplace when it's safe to do so, or make a donation to their Christmas party.
All the clapping in the world isn't going to help medical staff who have become infected (or even died) while aiding others. It may make us feel pleased with ourselves ("Look how wonderful we are - we stood on our doorstep and clapped at empty air for a few minutes - that's how much we appreciate the NHS"), but when it comes down to it, it's like pissing into the wind. It doesn't do anyone one real bit of good in the long run. It's also a bit like standing at your door and applauding a play you haven't gone to see, just because you like the actors who are in it.
And call me a cynic, but some people only participate in such public displays because they're more concerned with being seen to be appreciative than just actually being so. Sure, we should all be grateful for those who are tending the sick (and helping 'oil the wheels' of the country) at this uncertain time, but let's show our gratitude in a far more practical way. Maybe you think I'm a miserable old git, or perhaps you agree with me? Feel free to say so either way in the comments section. You never know - someone might applaud you for it.
And call me a cynic, but some people only participate in such public displays because they're more concerned with being seen to be appreciative than just actually being so. Sure, we should all be grateful for those who are tending the sick (and helping 'oil the wheels' of the country) at this uncertain time, but let's show our gratitude in a far more practical way. Maybe you think I'm a miserable old git, or perhaps you agree with me? Feel free to say so either way in the comments section. You never know - someone might applaud you for it.
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(Incidentally, I'm a carer [unpaid], and all the applause in the universe is useless to me. It's more a case of 'hands-on' help I could do with, not mere hand-clapping.)
Update: Tonight, April 1st, my taxi driver told me that his wife, who's a nurse, regarded the clapping event as ridiculous - and that isn't an April Fool.
33 comments:
My wife took a bad fall and hit the concrete on Wednesday. She ended up with her nose fractured and a cut lip. I am filled with praise for the doctors, nurses and staff at the local hospital who, despite all the ongoing problems and fears, treated her promptly and with compassion and care. What I did was to make sure I thanked every one I spoke to for doing a wonderful job in difficult times. (But on reflection, 'a big tub of chocolates' might be headed their way.)
Best wishes from Australia.
I don't think there can be a doctor, nurse, or carer who isn't aware of how people like yourself and others appreciate them, GC, so (maybe because it was suggested by a politician, I'm guessing) I think clapping into the air is a rather patronising gesture, and saves them having to pay these people what they're worth.
I once had a gangrenous appendix from which I nearly died (so the surgeon told me - I was admitted into hospital just in time), and I made a point of going back after I was released, with a box of chocolates for the nurses. A small token of my appreciation, but a more useful one that leaning out my window and disturbing my neighbours and wildlife with pointless applause that the nurses would never have heard anyway.
Thanks for commenting, and best wishes from the U.K. Hope your wife is feeling a lot better now. Give her a big tub of chocolates as well.
I thought it was a lovely gesture in truely unprecedented times where people are genuinly scared. Health workers are putting their lifes on the line at this time working hours and under stress non of us will experience. But your 110% right if Gov etc think they are so great (and they are we are are blessed in to have the NHS,despite the issues it has) then spot on , pay the nurses, doctors, cleaners etc properly and give them proper equipment etc.
I'm afraid I thought it was a futile gesture, McS, designed, it seems, to make the public feel good about itself by expressing their appreciation in the easiest, most inexpensive way possible and thereby letting the government (and I'm non-partisan) off the hook. AND also earning them undeserved credit for suggesting such a gesture in the first place. "Look what we're doing for NHS workers at this trying time - manipulating the nation into participating in public displays that don't cost us a bean, while making it look like we're all doing something." Clapping into the air achieves nothing, and doesn't help protect anyone from Covid-19.
And all it did for me was wake me up from a short rest after running up and down stairs all afternoon looking after someone with Alzheimer's.
I Must Admit, I was out side Clapping as well, it just seemed a nice thing to do, without thinking of all the other connotations, must of which i do agree with, my other half works for the NHS and she's having to go in and risk her health everyday, in a busy environment without a Mask, and until recently any hand sanitizer, as the NHS could not get any!!!..Unbelievable really...Anyway she was out there Clapping and she thought it was a nice gesture, as have most of her colleges.
But i do agree with you on your other points..Strange and difficult times we are living in, just heard Boris has it!
I don't get to watch TV, RD, apart from a few snatches of it when I'm having a coffee, so I was unaware that this event had been planned for last night. It was therefore a surprise to be woken up by one near neighbour doing what sounded at first like a loud, slow handclap, which reverberated down the street. Another neighbour was out clapping also, but I didn't hear her until I went outside to see what was happening. She wasn't making any noise at all really, but it struck me later that the other guy seemed to think that the louder he was, the greater was his appreciation.
Having one's sleep disrupted tends to make one a bit grumpy, so that probably coloured my reaction a tad, but being a natural cynic, it strikes me that this event was designed more as a public distraction to make us feel that we're 'doing our bit' when we're really doing nothing at all. It comes across (to me anyway) as one of those 'jolly wheezes' that the upper classes dream up to make 'ordinary' people's dull lives seem a little brighter. It's illusory, and more importantly (from the point of view of politicians), it doesn't cost a thing. Hope your wife keeps well, and you too, RD.
I agree with you on this one, Kid...I don't think it was the government's idea though. I care for my elderly mother and the only thanks I want is a bit of peace and quiet when I finally sit down to watch me telly. Pity whoever came up with it didn't suggest jazz hands rather than cheering and whooping like a load of attention-seeking sheep...
I assumed it was suggested by a politician because it's the sort of thing they come up with when they want to make a show of appearing to be doing something, but I didn't know for sure. Boris seems to have backed it though, so he can shoulder some of the blame. I've got to admit that I was surprised that so many people did it, as I thought that people were less likely to be mass-manipulated in today's more cynical times. Apparently not. Hope you and your mother are both well, HS.
Thank You Kid..Hope your ok as well, Take care.
Thanks, RD. Will do my best.
I heard about this on the radio yesterday but I was fast asleep when it was due to happen so I don't know if anybody around here clapped or not. I supported the NHS by voting Labour in the election - I wonder how many hypocritical Tory voters were clapping when they supported austerity and NHS cuts over the last decade, many of them pensioners by the way - the very people who now expect the crumbling NHS to protect them from coronavirus.
Had to get the dig in about pensioners, eh, CJ? Does it really matter what age they are? Now remember, I'm non-partisan, but talking of hypocrisy, do you mean like that of Labour's Diane Abbott, who sent her son to a fee-paying school while criticising others for doing so? Betcha there's loads of well-paid Labour politicians who pay for private medical care as well. Should there be a two-tier system in education and health, one for the rich and one for the poor? Anyone...?
If you go to work you have no choice but to support the NHS through NI contributions, therefore it's not hypocritical to expect help from them when you need it whoever you voted for...likewise pensioners who've paid in all their working lives. The tories are the only main party against health tourism as far as I can tell...that's what drains the resources...
That sounds eminently sensible to me, HS. There you go, CJ - the majority of pensioners have paid more into the NHS than just about anyone. Do you really grudge them getting what they paid for? It's usually not for long either.
Keep up the good work mate,always an entertaining blog.I work in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast and we recieve daily updates.Prospects are bleak at the moment with British army storage bases in Holywood,Co.Down bring adapted into temporary morgues.We did major event training over the last 20 years but always thought it would be a terrorist attack that we would respond to, not this.I keep thinking about the classic 1970s disaster movie,The Cassandra Crossing about a plague train in central Europe.However this time will pass and I believe we will emerge stronger and inevitably wiser with people realising how privileged we were to live on islands with no natural disasters like volcanos ,tidal waves,earthquakes and no famine etc.We are truly blessed in comparison to most of the planet.I am not religious but from what I see there is a resigned inevitability of what is to come but we will all get through it and it will end.Positive thinking and look out for your elderly neighbors and we will hopefully be sharing our comic memories for years to come.Better times ahead and best wishes to all your blog followers and of course you and your family.Stay well.
Kid, yes Diane Abbott was a hypocrite and I wouldn't defend her (in fact, I'd abolish private education) but the Tories have massively underfunded the NHS since 2010 and it's sickening to see them pretending they love and respect the NHS. I was listening to the Today programme on Radio 4 this morning and cabinet minister Alok Sharma said the government's current colossal spending-spree would cause a "short-term borrowing hit" - only a few months ago the Tories claimed Jeremy Corbyn's spending plans would wreck the economy!!
As for pensioners - in the election two-thirds of pensioners voted Tory. Pensioners are now the Tory party's base - the party would collapse without their support. So when you say " Does it really matter what age they are?" - I think it does. Pensioners rely on the NHS more than any other age group but they are the biggest supporters of the party that has run the NHS into the ground. Please don't reply with a tirade of insults - I am merely expressing my opinion :)
Thanks for your inspiring comment, FFF, and I hope you stay safe and well while you do your bit to care for the sick. They do say that whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, so let's all hope that deaths are confined to a minimum (if there has to be any) and that, like you say, we all emerge as a stronger country at the end of these trying times.
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CJ, you do me an injustice - when have I ever replied with a tirade of insults against you, you big Welsh-sheep sh*gger? (Yes, it was only once, but it still counts.) Relax, you know I'm joking and that your comments are always welcome here. However, I don't think your comparison is of equal equivalence, as the Tories were talking about Labour's plans under normal conditions, not the extreme situation we have now. Again, I'd say it doesn't matter who people (pensioners or otherwise) vote for. If they've paid their N.I. contributions all their working life, then they're entitled to medical treatment when required. My mention of 'political posturing' was generic in regard to politicians, so I'm bound to say that trying to make it 'party-political' is a wee bit under the belt. And what you appear to be forgetting is that a lot of those Tory pensioners probably have private health-care anyway.
And I hope you appreciate that, unlike some other blogs, you're not only allowed to express your opinion, you're encouraged to. "Baaaaaaa!" Oh, looks like your date's at the door. (Just having a laugh with you, CJ.)
Yeah, great comment FFF...hopefully, by autumn we'll be reminiscing about this mess. Hopefully no Criv-ites or their loved ones will contract this bloody thing...
As for ideal viewing during this testing time, I recommend that old BBC series, Survivors (the '70's version, natch!) - anyone got any other, hopefully funnier, suggestions?
It would be good if no one else (Criv-ites or otherwise) had to die from Covid-19, but I suppose that's too much to hope for. As for suggestions as to what to watch - Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads.
CJ - I WAS ONLY KIDDING - COME BAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!
Kid, while I feel for you , I too was once a carer for an elderly parent, who has long since passed, but where is the empathy for those of us who are unable to go to their local comic shops, which are now closed, because of "the China Virus" and the essential closure of the UK. (I'm being sarcastic , just in case any USAsians are logging in.:) This may be the first week since more years than I would care to admit that I have not catered to my addiction. Oh The Humanity!!! (I'm still being sarcastic, you US State-ians)
I can't actually remember with any great precision when I was last in a comics shop, G - it certainly wasn't recently. I don't get the same (if any) satisfaction from most new comics unless they're reprints of old ones, and most of THEM I get via the Internet. So it's been a long time since I got a buzz from being in a comics shop and, to be honest, I don't really miss them - hence my lack of 'empathy' for those in your position. Getting my stuff through the mail gives me something to look forward to most mornings, so give it a try - you might find that you like it.
Over the years since moving to the US from London I watched Tory governments make cut after cut to the National Health Service which in spite of the cuts has a tremendous amount of hard working dedicated people working for the good of their fellow citizens.
Yet in spite of the many cuts it amazes me that the majority of Britons voted for the present government led by the person making blatant lies about funding the NHS. I guess it costs less to have the public applaud thin air than pay people what they're worth and equip them to do the jobs they trained for.
Well, that was my point, T47, but not being a supporter of any political party or politician, I think it would be just as bad under Labour (or anyone else). They're all liars, and will promise the public whatever they think will bring them the power they seek. And while Boris may be a buffoon, Corbyn is a t*sser.
I don't disagree about all politicians lieing, Blair & Brown were no great shakes but since them there has been nothing but Tory goverment neglect of the NHS.
Good luck and good health to you 'North of the boarder' as John Grierson termed it. I have personally escaped NYC for the hills of Connecticut. Fewer people, plus under used country trails for exercise.
I'm never sure what to believe, T47. Every government always claims that they're putting more into the NHS than the last one. That's why I treat them all with suspicion.
And you and your missus take care. I sometimes wish I had a weekend cottage to escape to. Come that Lottery win...
I sympathise with Terranova's comment about the NHS but I must point out to him that a "majority of Britons" didn't vote for the present government - only 43% of voters supported the Tories and a third of the electorate didn't vote at all which means less than 30% of the entire electorate voted for BoJo.
Kid, I do appreciate that your blog allows people to express their opinions, whatever they are :)
But that's always the case with whatever party gets into government, CJ. If we only had two, it would be more clear cut, but because of the number of parties involved, there can't be any outright majority as the votes are always spread too thin. Maybe we should have a vote first to see which two parties are allowed to stand, then that might give us an outright winner (or as near as dammit).
I agree with Colin that only 43% of voters voted Tory but the third of the electorate by not voting endorsed not wanting a change.
I now live in a country where a minority retain political power by openly preventing probable opposition people from voting. In the UK apathy prevents votes which is a terrible waste of a democratic choice. Use it or loose it.
As Kid pointed out, the hypocrisy of politicians suggesting public applause for NHS workers, when the same government runs down the NHS making the workers jobs harder.
In the true spirit of this blog I hope that after COVID-19 something as worthy as V for Vendetta is inspired.
I'm not convinced that your conclusion in regard to a third of the electorate endorsing not wanting change is a sound one, T47. Perhaps they just didn't care whether there would be a change or not. Apathy would be the reason in at least a percentage of them, if not the lot of them. And even if true that they didn't want change, they might have got it anyway if another party won because they hadn't voted for the status quo. Surely people who don't want change would vote to ensure they they didn't get it?
Also, it wasn't so much the hypocrisy aspect I was thinking of in my post, but the futility of clapping into the air. I know from when I was working that my expenditure always rose to meet my income, and I think it's much the same with the NHS as anything else. It doesn't matter how much is put into health care, it's never going to be enough. Boris's bunch claim they've put in more than Corbyn's clan, and vice versa. Seeing as they're all a bunch of liars (did you see Corbyn obviously lying about watching the Queen's Christmas speech?), just who do we believe?
Regardless, as I say, whatever the amount, it'll never be enough, because instead of using it to employ more nurses and doctors (or at least pay the nurses we've got what they're worth - I suspect doctors and surgeons do all right), they create some unnecessary bureaucratic position and pay someone a fortune to fill it.
We need to face the facts - all political parties look after themselves more than the people who vote for them. All we get is the metaphorical crumbs that fall from the table after they've stuffed their fat faces.
Incidentally, the reason I don't vote is not out of apathy, but because I genuinely believe that none of them are worth voting for. I think many others are in the same boat - they know that regardless of who they'd vote for (or not), they're still going to end up getting screwed. When someone steps up to the plate that's worthy, I'll be first in the queue to vote for them, believe me.
I was waiting to pick up the Mrs at Boots at 8 p.m.and heard the cheers and applause in the Murray and joined in. However, I also applauded the Boots staff as they came out, because as you pointed out most NHS workers probably never actually heard it as they would have been at work. A pay rise is a must, as is a bonus when this is over, or even during it. They risk their lives daily and that is a huge cost.
Cheers
TG
Well, I don't disagree with your last sentiment, but I find it telling that you said that you 'joined in' when you heard the applause. That so many people are susceptible to being led (even with the best of intentions) is somewhat sad in my view. As I said in the post, it all seemed more about 'us' than 'them'. How many people went back indoors after applauding, pleased with themselves that they'd 'done their bit'?
Here's something of interest. Chippie in the centre had a sign up on the door, saying no more than 2 customers inside at a time. Yet there were around 10 staff behind the counter, delivery drivers included, congregated in the corner, with serving staff passing mere inches away from them, going in and out the back of the shop. Madness.
When I say I joined in, I qualify that by adding I was at the usual spot near Boots back door, I was the only person present and realised in about 3 seconds that no one could hear me, so stopped and I then waited for the Boots staff and applauded them as they came out the store That made more sense to me at that point in time.
Stay safe, stay sane ( too late!)
Cheers
TG
A big tub of chocolates for the staff and a donation to their Christmas party would still have been more useful to them, TG. Clapping costs nothing and is more associated with showing appreciation for being entertained, than in showing gratitude for people serving the community in life-threatening situations. I accept that, with most people, the intention was well-meaning, but - well, you've read the post.
And you too, Trumpton puppet lookalike. (And you're more bonkers than me. My magic spider told me so.)
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