Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Minute Silence at 6pm for Captain Tom.

285 replies

Doomsdayiscoming · 03/02/2021 12:44

I will be standing outside my house with my head bowed to remember Tom, and all the others that have lost their lives during this pandemic due to covid directly, or indirectly.

My hands will not meet. I don’t care what Supreme Leader Johnson orders us to do.

AIBU?

OP posts:
Crunchymum · 03/02/2021 13:35

Boris is saying tonight at 6pm, FB is saying tomorrow at 8pm

I mean are we so pathetic as a country we cannot actually organise a clap? Rhetorical question there.

I will not be clapping or bowing my head or howling [yes this is a thing too - Google it!]

You have to love a bit of misdirection.

VinterKvinna · 03/02/2021 13:36

@Doomsdayiscoming

Wow. Subtlety is lost on you guys.

By clapping at the suggestion of Johnson you are indirectly supporting him, and his Govt.

By not clapping you can still pay your respects (if that is what you wish to do), or you can sit at home and donate to charity.

If no one claps tonight it sends a message to the incompetent fools that they do not have public support. And that they cannot use the death of good people to try and cover up for their woeful behaviour.

No it wont
TheSpottedDog · 03/02/2021 13:36

Howling?? Ah now that sounds fun ... I think everyone should do that

supercee · 03/02/2021 13:37

It's a whole minute out of your evening to show appreciation for a nice man who achieved a remarkable thing in his 99th year. £33 million for the NHS. I'm pretty confident no one on these boards will come close to that.

If you don't want to do it, don't do it. Nobody, least of all BJ, gives a fuck, but don't turn it into something it's not.

This place sometimes 🙄

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr · 03/02/2021 13:38

@PlinkPlink

I think it would be better to donate money to charity in his name. He raised millions for NHS, why not donate to the NHS to show appreciation for what he did.

I clap at concerts for my favourite band or when my kids get awards... I don't clap someone's monumental contribution to charity and ironic death but clapping at my doorstep.

Bit sick and tired of people pissing and moaning about Boris too. It's a shit situation which no one has ever been in before and it's annoying when people get their Captain Hindsight goggles on and point out all the flaws. Yes, he's made mistakes but I defy anyone, any politician, any member of the public to have done better without the benefit of their 20/20 hindsight.

Why not donate to the NHS ? I do, every month via NI & income tax contributions.

People piss & moan about Johnson because 100 year old men had to raise money for something which the government should be funding instead of paying ludicrous sums to their pals for services & PPE / making a complete pigs ear of brexit at the same time which just makes everything worse. I will not clap indoors or outdoors, underground or overground along with Johnson, because I do not stand alongside him. Tom Moore did “a bit” and the publicity juggernaut hype train sprung into action.

ShrikeAttack · 03/02/2021 13:40

Well I won't be clapping, standing outside my house or observing a minute's silence. Is that ok?

Quaagars · 03/02/2021 13:40

Boris isn't ordering you to do anything ,you can clap or not clap it's entirely up to you nobody cares what you do

This

Either do or don't, announcing "well I'm not" er, just don't then?!
Nobody cares either way if you do or don't, and if they do they're an idiot not worth the headspace.

Tinacollada · 03/02/2021 13:40

Captain Tom was exploited.

The NHS is NOT a charity.

WithinAForestDark · 03/02/2021 13:41

@brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Why will you do this outside ?
Would that be so that everyone else can see you doing it and confirm in their minds that you are indeed a wonderful caring person? Stuff and nonsense, the lot of it.

All of this is only to make yourself (whoever you may be) feel a warm fuzzy glow and I simply don't believe all these 'I'm lighting a candle' posts. Why? To what end? A dreadful mass hysteria seems to be sweeping the nation and a big fat reality check is now long overdue.

Nothing you do (or don't do) will take away that Capt Sir Tom did a very good thing and he was without doubt an inspirational chap and that is all anyone needs to know.

Quaagars · 03/02/2021 13:41

Well I won't be clapping, standing outside my house or observing a minute's silence. Is that ok?

Erm, yes, course it is - what is it the saying goes on here - it's an invitation, not a summons lol

supercee · 03/02/2021 13:43

@ShrikeAttack To you and all the other 'I'm not doing this/that announcers - no one cares.

MrsJBaptiste · 03/02/2021 13:44

Nobody has ordered anyone to stand outside clapping!!! Jesus H Christ on a bike

For some reason I've started saying "Christ on a bike!" when something goes wrong, no idea why. Good to see it in use here too 😁

VinterKvinna · 03/02/2021 13:45

@PlinkPlink

I think it would be better to donate money to charity in his name. He raised millions for NHS, why not donate to the NHS to show appreciation for what he did.

I clap at concerts for my favourite band or when my kids get awards... I don't clap someone's monumental contribution to charity and ironic death but clapping at my doorstep.

Bit sick and tired of people pissing and moaning about Boris too. It's a shit situation which no one has ever been in before and it's annoying when people get their Captain Hindsight goggles on and point out all the flaws. Yes, he's made mistakes but I defy anyone, any politician, any member of the public to have done better without the benefit of their 20/20 hindsight.

Do you mean like they did in New Zealand?
Figgygal · 03/02/2021 13:45

If you’re going to be that bloody awkward about the gesture Why stand on your doorstep at all? Why do it at the time that’s been suggested?

BoJo isn’t going to see your silent protest you know

Mulhollandmagoo · 03/02/2021 13:45

And that they cannot use the death of good people to try and cover up for their woeful behaviour.

Like you are using it to bash the government? clap or don't clap, neither Boris Johnson or the Tory Government will care what you do!

Johnson politicised this by going against the will of Tom’s family. Has he asked them if this is what they, or Tom wanted?

so, has he gone against their will as a family? or no? because reading that it doesn't look like you're too sure. You don't know if he has asked them, and that they've agreed so no need to instantly assume.

Also....you'll look a bit daft stood on your front lawn with your head down whilst other people are clapping, because they wont know its a protest will they??? Hmm

Livingtothefull · 03/02/2021 13:46

'Bit sick and tired of people pissing and moaning about Boris too. It's a shit situation which no one has ever been in before and it's annoying when people get their Captain Hindsight goggles on and point out all the flaws. Yes, he's made mistakes but I defy anyone, any politician, any member of the public to have done better without the benefit of their 20/20 hindsight'.

All the things the Government could and should have done differently are well document. And every other country seems to have done better:

www.standard.co.uk/news/health/uk-highest-daily-covid-death-rate-world-oxford-research-b900231.html

Quaagars · 03/02/2021 13:47

Johnson politicised this by going against the will of Tom’s family. Has he asked them if this is what they, or Tom wanted?

Erm.... which is it then?
You haven't half contradicted yourself there.

hamstersarse · 03/02/2021 13:48

What new hell is this?

Mulhollandmagoo · 03/02/2021 13:49

Haha. Imagine he ordered us to do it.

But he hasn't ordered us to do it, so I don't understand the hysteria? you want us to pretend he's ordered us to clap and then be annoyed at him? I know we aren't big fans of the Tories (me included) but, this thread is whacky!!! Confused

username44416 · 03/02/2021 13:50

Mr Johnson said the clap would also be for "all those health workers for whom he raised money" (because we didn't).

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe · 03/02/2021 13:52

Why do you need to tell everybody, OP?

It's this I think that gets on people's nerves. Do it, don't do it, why do you need to join the hundreds of other attention-seekers to tell everybody that you are doing this thing? Confused

Before I get leapt on, it's not Tom I have ever had any issue with, it's the cling-on limpets, who have to gather up and appropriate for themselves anything that anybody else ever does - as long as it's in the public eye. They're pathetic.

CaptainSirTomMooreismyhero · 03/02/2021 13:52

mumofone2019

Am I the only one who finds it really bizarre to clap someones death? It just is very odd to me.
It isn't clapping that they have died. It is clapping to celebrate and applaud the life they led. It is similar to when people clapped as they lined the route after Princess Diana's funeral service.

StillCoughingandLaughing · 03/02/2021 13:53

[quote namechangefail2020]@Doomsdayiscoming it's not about Boris. As said above, no one cares what you do or do not do. We are not forced to clap, it's a suggestion. There's probably other ways to bash Boris (which I'm all for) than using Sir Captain Toms name. Shame on you! [/quote]
I’m afraid people like you are an absolute gift to the government. Captain Tom Moore raised an incredible amount, but the reality is he was a kind person trying to raise a modest amount to do his bit. Social and viral media did the rest - and the government lapped it up. A centenarian and a WW2 veteran rolled into one; you couldn’t have got a better poster boy (or pensioner) for ‘We’re All in This Together, Britain’ if you tried. Politicians could wax lyrical about his spirit and how he represented everything that makes Britain great, while the public donated to fund a service their taxes (under)fund anyway. Anyone who dared to highlight that maybe the NHS shouldn’t need a charity fundraiser on this scale was seen as criticising lovely old Captain Tom - already so beloved that he no longer needed a surname.

I’m afraid your cries of ‘Shame on you!’ are music to the ears of politicians who don’t want any heat coming their way. And just think of all the inevitable donations and crowd-funders in memory of The People’s Captain - even more money the government doesn’t have to find.

Quaagars · 03/02/2021 13:53

But he hasn't ordered us to do it, so I don't understand the hysteria

Exactly, it's bonkers lol
Either clap or don't, have a minutes silence, or don't!
Nobody cares if you do or don't!
Even if he has mentioned it being "a thing" to do, on what planet is it an order?!
It's not N Korea FFS

WagnerTheWehrWolf · 03/02/2021 13:54

Lovely man who had a banger of a final year but the reaction to his death has been very strange.