The Year the World Went Mad: Philippa’s Story

BBC Radio 4’s Pick of the Year for 2023 features a caller to the programme Any Answers called Philippa. Unlike the majority of those baying for Boris Johnson’s blood at the Inquiry and still screaming for longer, harder and earlier lockdowns, Philippa’s tragic story epitomised what Mark Woolhouse, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, called The Year The World Went Mad:

Philippa: Well, I believe that Boris Johnson should be held accountable for everything. Every single social media thing he has. Every diary.

Three years ago, when Covid first started – you’ll have to excuse me if I get upset because I am – we, my husband and I, my daughter was distressed. She lived [... line drops out …] in Worcestershire. So we rang; we thought we had to do everything right. We phoned [inaudible]; they said we couldn’t go – “it wasn’t an essential journey”. So they said they would make… the police in London would go and check she was okay.

We didn’t hear anything, so we waited all day. I rang the police again, and they said, “Just wait, we’ll get back to you.” So, at some point, later that day, they got back to us and our daughter had killed herself. And we couldn’t go there to see her [sobbing]. And then even on the day, only three of us could go to the funeral. We, the police told us, because we couldn’t make another visit, we had to empty her flat the same day as the funeral.

And then we came back, and we saw those people smirking, saying it wasn’t a party. We heard all the things that, him [BJ] saying “It wasn’t a party, we didn’t do this.” You are so accountable. My daughter was dead while they were doing their parties. And I would never, never ever forgive the Government for doing that. Never in my life.

And all those people who say “people need to move on”, how can we move on when we’re in hell every minute of our lives because we lost our daughter when we could have got there? It’s just wicked.

Philippa’s tale of lockdown culture speaks for itself. What’s really dispiriting is that nothing she had to say is likely to have the slightest impact on the significant proportion of this country that believes lockdowns should become part of our way of life in perpetuity, those who would actively and enthusiastically impose one on us again while no doubt taking more trouble to hide their parties next time, and those who eagerly enforced it whether in an official or unofficial capacity.

Those who think this is all ancient history are missing the point. The point is that, in 2020, a precedent was set in which one risk was prioritised at all costs, and to hell with the unintended consequences and fallout. What matters now to each and every one of us is what happens next time.

You can hear Philippa yourself on the Radio 4 website here. Spin through to about 26:30 in.

Sallust is a pseudonym.