Isn’t it a bit odd that we’re halfway through a General Election and yet the political parties have not sought to discuss their or their opponents’ record during the pandemic, asks Brian Monteith in the Scotsman. Here’s an excerpt.
It is a conspiracy of silence, an omertà between combatants that has not even required them to speak to each other to agree the code. Why should such a potential mass-scale existential event – the likes of which Hollywood horror movies are made about – not be a core issue?
Could it be that it suits them all, Government and opposition alike, to not talk about their almost universally poor conduct during that time?
The Government’s reaction to the pandemic resulted in us being under 24-7 supervision, often house bound, it caused early deaths, wrecked businesses, denied education, delayed healthcare, cost jobs, savings and ruined lives.
The COVID-19 pandemic was not that long ago. The last U.K. lockdown ended only three years ago in July 2021 – Scotland’s lasted longer. Yet while we hear our politicians talk about today’s consequences of the decisions taken then, such as the cost-of-living crisis, the enormous NHS waiting lists, the cancer treatment backlog, the education gaps, the rising mental health symptoms, they do not want to talk about the root cause of the challenges we face now.
Why is no-one asking questions about why our politicians closed the schools when other countries managed to keep them open – and still managed comparatively better outcomes?
Why is there not a demand to know why Nightingale hospitals were built at great expense only never to be used for their purpose of mass triage and treatment centres?
Where is the outrage at the way care home residents were treated or how ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ protocols were put in place across many healthcare settings?
How could our governments adopt a conscious programme of Project Fear to scare us into obedience – to snitch on our neighbours for walking their dogs, to wear masks despite there being no evidence of benefits, to adopt entirely arbitrary social distancing so we could not see our dying loved ones or easily attend their funerals?
Well, I have not forgotten those times and I’m absolutely certain our politicians have not either.
It’s surely because they know that what they did was devastating for no obvious gain, concludes Monteith – and the opposition was entirely complicit, often only criticising the Government for not going further.
Worth reading in full.
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