I don't want to clap

[OrlandoAlice]

I do support the NHS, I'm massively grateful for everything NHS workers are doing at the moment and to everyone who still has to get up and go out to work and keep things going during this crisis. However the clapping just seems a bit pointless to me. As a one off it was fine but to make it a weekly thing feels forced and I resent feeling emotionally blackmailed into doing something so redundant. The Doctors and Nurses I know personally find it cringy and would rather people follow the advice, donate, or volunteer.

Oh God no I don’t blame you, it’s going to become a right pita. Dh is a Dr and finds it quite cringy.
He is also a bit about all the healthcare staff posting pictures of themselves in their PPE at work telling people to stay home blah blah especially groups of them all right next to each other or even with arms around each other. He suspects a lot of them are drama lamas looking for their 5 minutes of fame. Meantime he just gets on with his work.

I am a healthcare worker and think the clapping is inane and condescending. Personally l would prefer proper PPE and funding of the NHS

I don't think anyone is forced to! They won't turn you away at a later date if you are going in for an op!

I work for the NHS myself.

I did not realise what was going on until the bloke in the next room (of another flat) stopped bellowing and screeching down the phone/skype/whatever device he was using, to begin loud clapping. I then heard a clapping noise outside too. I thought it was medical students!

Later on I turned on the news and saw what it was all about.

I won't be doing it. Last week we also had fireworks and I had to spend the rest of the evening calming two terrified dogs down.

YANBU. No place for showy Look at Me behaviour now.

The clapping is fine, if people want to do it. What isn't fine is the clappers promoting the idea that those who don't clap and whoop on their doorsteps are misery guts who don't support the NHS. Which of course is bullshit.

We didn’t do it. The thought of me doing it made me cringe. Other people doing it made me cringe.

Out NHS are wonderful and deserve all the support they can get. Clapping on a doorstep isn’t supporting anything, it’s just virtue signalling.

YANBU - i live in a Tory area and every election people vote for the party who has been cutting the NHS budget for years and not invested in it at all. The NHS is on the floor.
The clapping is cheesy and pointless. As fake as the idiots sending rainbow paintings to a an intensive care hospital. Do people seriously think the NHS needs kids paintings RIGHT NOW?

If it boosts morale for a single person it’s fine. When did we all get to be such miserable gits?

This country has elected the tories for over a decade despite knowing they want to deliberately run down the NHS so it can be privatised. That's what actually matters.

Exactly this. Voting for the political party that will ruin the NHS and then standing in the street clapping is ridiculous.

@OrlandoAlice

Don't clap then!

I didn't last week and I won't be in future. It's a hollow, meaningless gesture imo. Just do as the NHS ask and stay at home. Testing and PPE is more important than mindless clapping and whooping and banging pots and pans. What about any poor key workers in your area who are trying to sleep?

It seems to be in place just to divert attention from how useless the government are being and to give them something else to talk about other than the lack of PPE for key workers and their appaling record on testing.

Maybe we should all go ouside and shout about this rather than clap. I am sure the prioty for our key workers is to feel safe. If they don't the clapping is pretty meaningless.

I am appalled that British people have descended into this level of cheese.

It's embarrassing.

@OrlandoAlice It's not written in LAW that you have to clap FGS.

To start a thread saying you don't want to clap for the NHS is just bizarre!

*YesIDoLoveCrisps

This country has elected the tories for over a decade despite knowing they want to deliberately run down the NHS so it can be privatised. That's what actually matters.

Exactly this. Voting for the political party that will ruin the NHS and then standing in the street clapping is ridiculous.*

Plus this!

People just using this now to have a impromptu street party with booze and fireworks and sacking off social distancing.

I felt much like you before last week's clap. Then at 8pm I heard the neighbours I'd never met hanging out of their windows, cheering. I was so lifted my this I decided to fling open my window and clap too. The few cars in the street joined in by tooting. It was an absolutely glorious moment, I'll never forget it.

I live in a street of flats, and day after day of seeing nobody out walking is soul crushing. That few minutes of communality relinded me that the crowds still exist, they're just indoors.

Of course the NHS would rather have adequate resources than a round of applause. But I'm in no position to sort out the NHS right now. I think the clap turned out to be much more than an expression of gratitude, and for many it became a celebration of life. Our own lives. The clap says 'we're still here'.

And tonight we'll be doing it in daylight.

I'm NHS and found it quite moving last week. But also a bit embarrassing. We're not single-handedly keeping the country going here. Where's the appreciation for supermarket workers, delivery drivers, utilities workers, teachers...?

agree alsohuman

Jonnypocket theres slightly more emotional investment when people are saving lives

Spot on @MorrisZapp.

I'd much rather people voted for a political party that properly supports the nhs.

At 8pm tonight I'll be emailing my (Conservative) MP and the Health Secretary to ask them why NHS staff still don't have the PPE they need to do their jobs safely nor adequate testing.

I do wonder how many people hooting and clapping on their doorsteps for the nurses and doctors are the ones whose votes have effectively put the NHS in the parlous state it is in?

I'm not doing it. Its stupid, i dont want to, and it reminds me far too much of the Two Minutes' Hate. My partner is a frontline worker, hes at work in a crappy dangerous environment today, so instead of clapping im going to show my appreciation by cooking a really nice dinner for him and rubbing some Voltarol into his bad knee. He'll appreciate that much more than a round of applause from strangers (who at least round here, overwhelmingly voted to cut public spending even more).