Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

This clap for Captain Tom idea

776 replies

User133847 · 02/02/2021 20:44

I've just seen a lot on social media about this clap for Tom on Thursday at 8, similar to the clap for the NHS.

I'm a bit ambivalent about this. The one organised the other week was a damp squib and nobody got involved. The weather is still dark and cold (it wasn't in the summer when the pots and pans were out for the NHS). However, for a nation in mourning at Tom's passing, perhaps this could help really bring the country together on Thursday.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
15
MarshaBradyo · 02/02/2021 20:55

Fine if people want to

But not for me

PanamaPattie · 02/02/2021 20:56

"A nation in mourning" really? He was 100. He had a fabulous last year of his life. We should quietly celebrate his achievements - that is enough.

PurpleDaisies · 02/02/2021 20:56

@BananaPop2020

If we are going down this road, wouldn’t two minutes of silence be better for everyone that has died during the pandemic?
I think we’ll get that when it’s over.
Original poster
User133847 · 02/02/2021 20:57

@MissyB1

I wish people would stop all the virtue signalling. We can all pay our own private respects to this amazing man without having to prove it by standing on our doorsteps. If one more person asks me to clap for something I will clap them around the head!
Sorry, but I think that ship sailed with the way the nation reacted to Diana's passing. We're a more emotive nation now that wants to express its grief and sorrow.
OP posts:
BritWifeinUSA · 02/02/2021 20:57

“A nation in mourning?” This time last year you’d never even heard of him.
What will clapping achieve? He won’t hear it or even know that anyone’s doing it. I just don’t get this obsession with clapping lately.

BeautifulStar · 02/02/2021 20:57

No, It’s far too cold. I didn’t even do it in the summer.

MarshaBradyo · 02/02/2021 20:58

However, for a nation in mourning at Tom's passing

He did a very good thing but I think it’s a stretch to say a nation in mourning. I can’t say I’m in mourning

100 is a long life.

Hardbackwriter · 02/02/2021 20:58

'a nation in mourning'?

AnneLovesGilbert · 02/02/2021 20:58

No more fucking clapping. No bloody pots and pans banging. No stupid Santa bell jangling. No fireworks. No annoying noises at night time thank you. Wish it would all just bugger off.

XenoBitch · 02/02/2021 20:58

@PanamaPattie

"A nation in mourning" really? He was 100. He had a fabulous last year of his life. We should quietly celebrate his achievements - that is enough.
I heard he died and thought it was neither a shock or anything that had me bawling into a cushion. He was 100. People donating raised the money... a fare few other elderly people tried to do the same after him. No tears for them.. they have vanished into obscurity.
PurpleDaisies · 02/02/2021 20:58

It’s sad.

It isnt “a nation in mourning”.

Hardbackwriter · 02/02/2021 20:59

Cross-post, @MarshaBradyo, I'm in total agreement! If we're a nation in mourning it's for the 100,000, not one 100 year old

Misandrylovescompany · 02/02/2021 21:00

Nation in mourning for an old bloke who had a nice sunshine holiday?! Really?!

Sparklingbrook · 02/02/2021 21:00

I though the outpouring of grief when Diana died was bizarre.

I don't really understand public displays of grief for famous people. I get that it was sad but that's about it.

InterfectoremVulpes · 02/02/2021 21:01

Great so many people are deciding what should be done to remember him. Maybe arrange his funeral while your at it, yeah?

Original poster
User133847 · 02/02/2021 21:01

@Hardbackwriter

'a nation in mourning'?
Well, going off the news and social media.
OP posts:
Katie517 · 02/02/2021 21:01

Running the risk of sounding harsh I really can’t see what all the fuss is about and why we have this obsession with clapping all of a sudden. People who have done great things die on a daily basis but we don’t have days of media coverage and clapping for them! I get that he raised a lot of people’s spirits last year but it’s really not for me and to be honest i could do without constant reminders of last years lockdown.

fridgepants · 02/02/2021 21:02

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the user's request.

itsgettingweird · 02/02/2021 21:02

Planting flowers is a lovely idea and I love it as an idea or represent Captain Sir Rom Moore and all those who have lost their lives to covid.

It's would be lovely to do them in blue and white to represent the NHS too.

It would hopefully mean as spring arrives, the weather warms, the virus dies out die summer and vaccinations are well under way the flowers will bloom.

OliveTree75 · 02/02/2021 21:02

I think we could be a "nation in mourning" for all the lives lost, not just one

Also it isn't comparible to diana

BananaPop2020 · 02/02/2021 21:02

@PurpleDaisies you are right, and that will be totally appropriate. I just feel increasingly uncomfortable at the dramatic nature of some of the posts bouncing round the forum tonight.

Sparklingbrook · 02/02/2021 21:03

I did the NHS clapping last year because I didn't want to be the only house in the street not doing it but it felt very awkward.

NothingIsWrong · 02/02/2021 21:03

A nation in mourning really is a stretch. He did a good thing, but a short illness followed by death at 100 is hardly a life cut short in its prime.

XenoBitch · 02/02/2021 21:03

@Sparklingbrook

I though the outpouring of grief when Diana died was bizarre.

I don't really understand public displays of grief for famous people. I get that it was sad but that's about it.

At least with Diana, she was in the public eye for years beforehand. She was royalty.. history book stuff. No one had heard of Sir Tom before his fundraising.
Misandrylovescompany · 02/02/2021 21:03

In a country which refuses to fund its public services adequately I find this fetishisation of individual charitable fundraising grotesque. It is edging towards the US, where people do charity appeals to pay off medical debt which they should never have incurred in the first place.

I’m sure he was a lovely old man but please.