@Dowser and the many other kind and sensible folk on here who have been so kind as to pledge their support - thank you so much! It gives me hope and fills me with joy to know that not everyone in this country has unthinkingly lapped up the government rhetoric.
@Shelovesamystery - you are absolutely spot on in questioning the 'keeping us/you safe' slogan that fills me with ire and bile every time I read or hear it.
Since when was safety the primary purpose of life?
And safety from what, exactly?
Becoming ill? Dying?
I'm sorry, but both of these things are human certainties. Along with taxes (unless you're Jeff Bezos, of course).
So we're cowering away in our homes, resulting in many people losing their jobs, livelihoods, savings, homes, relationships, friendships, educational opportunities and mental health, because we cannot accept that nature is more powerful than us and people are born to die of disease and old age. All to perpetuate the illusion that we are in control of our own 'safety'.
But we're not. And as long as you believe that, you're trapped in a world of fear, where you can be manipulated and controlled by those who promise you the safety you crave but can never achieve.
No one wants to die before their time. No one wants to lose the people they love. But I don't see the deaths of very elderly people as a tragedy. I see them as a fact of life. And quite frankly, the vast majority of the people who have died who weren't very elderly, died because they were incredibly unhealthy from obesity or other lifestyle related disease. If our population did not contain so many unhealthy adults, we wouldn't be in the position we are now.
Look beneath the surface at the real issues - why are so many people in this country obese and diabetic? Why are heart disease and diabetes our biggest killers? These diseases cost the NHS billions every year. And they are largely diseases of poverty. Because crap food is the cheapest. Because people who are forced to work long shifts or several shifts back to back to make ends meet, and take several buses to work because public transport is so dire, don't have the energy or time to cook healthy meals and so rely on fast food. Because welfare provision has been cut to the bone and people have to make impossible choices between heating their homes and buying food. Because many people can't afford the gas to heat vegetable soup for dinner and so end up with a McDonald's instead. Because many people are so ground down by their poverty and exhaustion that they have no energy to look after themselves. Because many people are so ground down by their poverty and exhaustion that the only pleasure they have is cigarettes, alcohol or crap food.
And who has built this country that has provided such a wonderful breeding ground for coronavirus? Who has cut NHS funding year after year? Who introduced zero hour contracts, who cut welfare provision, who cut sure start centres and adult education and apprenticeship schemes? Who has set the minimum wage at such a low level that it's impossible to live on? Who allowed people to buy and sell their council properties so that affordable housing has become like gold dust? Who has privatised pretty much everything so that anything designed to benefit the public has become about benefiting shareholders instead?
That's right, the government.
That same government that cares so deeply about 'keeping us safe'.
I rest my case.