There is an assumption in this country that there can be no losers In this dreadful calamity which is the Covid 19 pandemic. People line up proclaiming their plight and demand economic protection. There is no sense that in extremis "we" have to change, to the point of perhaps closing established ways of entertaining ourselves permanently, or at least until there is a viable antivirus jab available to all.
Perhaps these places will close and never open again in any great number. The pubs, the bowling allies, the cinemas and the theatre will all become largely off limits and the staff let go. Perhaps this is that Calvinistic moment, a turn away from our current hedonism.
In war we accept all kinds of draconian deprivation, we are programmed to beat the foe. Of course in a war we accept casualties, it’s the price of war, it’s collateral damage and perhaps this is a time to accept the collateral damage, accept that people will die on quite a large scale in the assumption that more will live. We are comforted by the fact that children seem relatively unaffected and that younger people are more resilient which leaves only the middle aged and the older generation at risk and even in this cohort, it's the ones with underlying problems who will be most stricken. Are they a price worth paying, would they die of other ailments anyway, have we gone too far in protecting the sick.
So if we are left with the 'rate of transmission' as the crucial factor, should we let it run until it runs out of steam and assume that those that survive will build some sort of immunity since people are dying needlessly from non virus related diseases caused by hospital backlogs due to their fear of contagion .
The big unanswered question is can we sustain the damage to our economy and what in that economy do we judge is essential, what is important and what can we do without. Can we do without pubs and restaurants, do we need holidays abroad and a new car, do we need to change our kitchen to compete with Jones' down the street or would a dose of realism not come in handy as we start the tricky road back to living within our means.
We weren't unhappy living before consumerism was thrust upon us. We are naturally, social animals but with messaging and videoing we now have a new tool to keep us in contact. Admittedly it's not the same as a tactile get together but at least there isn't the inevitable innuendo having overstayed your welcome or imbibing one too many you don't have to suffer the post-mortem in the car going home. Instead we simply switch off the iPad and before the screen has dimmed we return to our default position making that cup of tea you put off when the call came in.
This doesn't address the problem of unemployment. Retraining, if the person is young enough but retraining with dignity and if possible to a higher level of skill than they had before. Opening up society to manufacturing again, this time making environmentally conscious products. Then there's the idea floated of a "national wage" paid to everyone, not as an unemployed wage but as a basic living premium, much like a pensions, a sort of civilised handout of what a persons basic needs are, including perhaps a small subsidised house, much like the municipality controlled dwellings which we used to have (before Mrs Thatcher sold them all off) to provide the security we all crave.
The countries finances which up to 60% end up in the private accounts of 1% of the population, is a preposterous situation and damns governments of all persuasions for having been a party to letting it happen. How can we have a billionaires on the one hand and starving children and food banks on the other. How did the balance get so far out of kilter to allow Jeff Bezos to earn $2,219 per second, more than twice what the median worker in the US makes in a week. The evil of Neo liberalism has unleashed a totally distorted set of wealth parameters which needs addressing but unfortunately as long as the population continues to reject the modest claims of Bernie Sanders in favour of Donald Trump, it's going to be a long hard road ahead.
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