Fit for Heroes



CoVID-19 Day 27

I walked and walked and walked today. It wasn’t my allotted daily exercise though I guess that got covered. I needed to deposit some cheques and the bank isn’t nearby. The walk there was very pleasant — the walk back, less so as my feet began to rub and one or two joints began to complain. I’m obviously not in shape so there’s something I need to tackle.

I had planned to do less social media today. I think I probably did less though I wouldn’t call it a success. I’m not sure what’s best for me at the moment in this respect. It doesn’t get me down but while I was walking I kept finding myself reaching for my phone as if I needed to keep track when I didn’t. Well this diary keeps me posting on Facebook, my blog and here anyway. It can take up considerable time depending on what I’m writing about or how easily the words come to me so my commitment to this virtual life isn’t in doubt.
 
We cannot allow them to be painted as heroes
on cardboard cutouts,
once again we must demand a land fit for heroes
and an NHS fit for purpose

As well as posting me singing (which I recorded yesterday) I also recorded a song for the virtual May Day event being organised by the Trades Council. I was going to play in person but, of course, that was scuppered by CoVID-19 so its all going to be online with recorded messages. Mine is a song I wrote some time ago. I wrote it walking to my breakfast club job, feeling a bit glum. Its a song of hope (I wrote it to cheer me up) which found inspiration in the prospect of ushering in a Labour government. The leaked Labour report that came out last week explains why our optimism (in the short term at least) was misplaced.

Yet we must always maintain hope because without it we are left only with despair. So in spite of what we are being faced with day in day out, we must believe that a better future is possible and that the work we are doing towards that will not be fruitless.

There is so much confusion and so many voices amidst the utter incompetence of the government, the tragedy of lost lives in the care industry and ruptures within the Labour Party, that when we look to forging the future we are in danger of ceding the narrative to malignant forces. The only antidote is for us to develop a common left narrative and at least a loose coalition of left groups to press that narrative.

The good people of Britain won’t save the NHS or truly honour its staff through charity or applause (as noble as they are) but through a fundamental shift in policy that brings services back within the NHS and restores responsibility to the secretary of state. There is a deep sickness and corruption within established politics and the mainstream media that must be openly challenged.

There is certainly an appetite for this but it will be challenged fiercely by the powers that be. The government itself pays lip service to the heroic efforts of our frontline workers with no intention of following through with concrete changes. We cannot allow them to be painted as heroes on cardboard cutouts, once again we must demand a land fit for heroes and an NHS fit for purpose

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