I'm Repulsed by the Leaders of my Country

If you're still defending the Conservative Government for their pandemic response, there may be little hope left for you. 

One shouldn't be surprised at the UK death toll (even though we are an island, have a highly sophisticated healthcare system, and one of the richest economies in the world). 

The Conservative Government, and to an extent New Labour, have demonstrated time and again that they do not care about ordinary human life. Whether it be the lives of those in poorer parts of the world - look at Iraq, Libya, Yemen. Or the lives of poorer people in our own country - look at the last 10 years of austerity.

The UK's pandemic response is yet another example showing us, very clearly, that the Conservatives are harmful and immoral. Please don't defend or support them.

Different stories are being spun by our politicians and billionaire-owned media. We are being told that the Government did the best they could, that the public is largely to blame, or that it is all China's fault. Don't allow yourself to fall for such lines. If you are going to support a political party, please look beyond mainstream media headlines. Please do some research. You might not be that affected by your decisions, but lots of other people are.

The UK had a lot of time to prepare. We saw other countries who were hit by the virus first. China, South Korea and New Zealand, for example, when they realised the severity of the virus, responded aggressively and efficiently. They applied World Health Organisation advice and succeeded in controlling the virus. The long term benefits of this approach, even from a capitalist view-point, let alone from the view-point of protecting human life, were positive. We then witnessed countries who let the virus spiral out of control, Italy for example, and could have learnt from this. But we didn't.

When I write about this I have strong feelings, but I'm trying to maintain balance and measure. Each life lost is 1 too many. Not only the lives that have been taken too soon by Covid-19, but the families that have been affected or destroyed. 

The Conservative Government has presided over 100,000 deaths (well over this number in some estimations). This number was never inevitable. It is the direct result of ideological decisions made by a political party that is criminally incompetent and immoral. 

Not only is the death toll such a heart-breaking factor, but consider the business and livelihoods that have been destroyed by ongoing lockdowns. Our joke of a Government allowed the virus to spiral dangerously out of control. Our hope of properly containing it is long gone. This means ongoing lockdowns, huge pressures on health services, and more mass death. The futures that have been derailed, the domestic violence that has increased, the education that has been affected, are all factors traceable to the decisions of our Conservative Government. We should never forget what they have done to this country.

I have been reflecting on precisely why I think our Government did so badly, and I think it was a mixture of 3 primary factors. 

The first factor is that the main politicians running our country are sickeningly entitled and privileged. It is as though they have been so shielded throughout their lives, and they have got away with so much through lies and rhetoric, that they actually thought a virus wouldn't affect them or their country. Viruses, it seems, aren't susceptible to lies and rhetoric. 

The second factor is that they are incompetent and short-sighted. Our decision-makers couldn't seem to grasp that even from their own neoliberal, corporate view-points, locking down early and aggressively would have actually benefited the economy and businesses in the long-term. 

The third factor is that they do not value the lives of ordinary people. I'm sure our decision-makers are aware that, if they fell ill from the virus, they and their families would get the best healthcare possible. This is not so for others. The Conservatives have demonstrated repeatedly that they do not value the lives of poor people. This is why they implemented austerity to bail out the bankers.

I sincerely hope that more ordinary people will wake up to the evils of the Conservative Government, and the corporations that control this Government, but I still fear that the propaganda is too deeply entrenched.

To anyone who cares about the world around them, I urge you to develop an accurate understanding of society. We need to wake up and take appropriate action, for life is short and valuable, and we must care for those around us.