Some are getting it … and others aren’t

In this day and age it should surprise nobody that the human world is largely composed of (1) generally well-meaning individuals who try to treat others as they’d like to be treated themselves and also care about those less fortunate than themselves; (2) those that through circumstances beyond their control begin and often stay in straightened circumstances which makes their lives something of a struggle; and then (3) a hardcore residue – varying from the highly-intelligent to the sadly-thick, from the misguided to the deluded, from yer eternal ruffians to the desperate – who are purely self-interested, choose to ignore or flaunt the laws and rules (that the rest of society live by) and delight in getting away with whatever they can.

Over the course of yesterday, listening as I was to BBC radio stations for most of it, I gradually became exasperated by the small but persistent number of callers to phone-in programmes in the last of the above categories.

I know that the BBC operates under a self-imposed imperative to reflect not only the views of all political persuasions, attitudes, religious beliefs (or none) but also, of course, of those whose instincts lie at both ends of the spectrum where the fundamental “right to individual freedom” clashes with society’s ‘right’ to curb same when circumstances arise in which the perceived pursuit of the general public good could or does demand it.

However, as mentioned above, yesterday I did feel great sympathy at times for the hosts of some of the radio programmes I was listening to who had to deal with some of lunatic head-bangers who had dialled in and necessarily had to be treated with similar courtesy and forbearance to those contributors – whether front-line NHS doctors and nurses, key worker stalwarts, concerned ‘middle of the road’ members of the public or just those struggling in extremis – who were either seeking enlightenment, advice or assistance.

There was one specific character who called in to a morning show on Radio Five Live yesterday whose selfish “I’m all right Jack” attitudes just about took the proverbial biscuit.

His view was that the whole Coronavirus crisis was a fiction of a problem, got up by the Government (and/or politicians as a breed) as a ruse designed to try and impose some kind of Big Brother control over the UK population … and he was having none of it.

As I type I cannot recall the exact figures he quoted – and it may not matter, even to him, whether they were grounded in the statistics being put out every day by official Government sources (because, of course, he regarded anything put out by Government as dodgy) or were just being made up on the spot, but his thrust was that did we know that 60,000-plus died every year from the ‘flu … that the Coronavirus figures were but a fraction of that … and so why the hell was everybody/anybody making such a fuss about them?

He went on to share with the nation his approach to things.

He regarded the “lock-down” as an outrage against his individual freedoms and he wasn’t standing for it.

He was going to continue going shopping, walking, driving, flying his drone, exercising his dog [add your own other favourite pastimes here] come what may.

Frankly, he didn’t believe any of the propaganda being put out by the authorities … and anyway, if a few extra people pegged it here and there over the course of another British winter, so what?

This was just normal collateral damage from our climate as had occurred over hundreds of years of history.

Furthermore, no doubt, in pursuit of whatever ultimate goal the Government had, they were going to blame the supposed pandemic for this year’s death toll when in fact it – or at least the bulk of it – was just the common or garden fall-out from the ‘flu.

Finally, to put the icing on his particular argument (or was it cake?), those listening to the programme might like to know that he took a pretty fatalistic approach to life itself – “When your time has come, your time has come … Goodnight, Roger, Over and Out …” – and if he himself bought it during this supposed crisis, so what?

The programme host somehow kept his cool – I’m afraid I’d have cut the caller off the moment I gauged the way his contribution was going – and deployed the obvious logic of the medical and scientific advice, the danger anyone such as the caller would represent to other people – even if he wasn’t concerned about his own safety – if he were to wander about, irrespective of whether he was Coronavirus positive or not, potentially infecting other people.

Inevitably, caller and host ended by having to agree to disagree.

Last night, over my double single malt whisky tot before my evening meal, I fanatised about a new Government policy announcement that might, say, be announced this Thursday at the afternoon Number 10 briefing to the nation.

Given the preponderance of twats and idiots up and down the country who seem to delight in ignoring the Government’s currently imposed restrictions upon our lifestyles – partly or wholly fuelled by their failure to accept the existence of the Coronavirus and/or its potentially deadly effects, and/or also their own lack of concern as to whether or not they catch it themselves, even if it should lead to their own demise – the Government is now seeking volunteers to join a new “Coronavirus Support Unit (or “CSU”) for the Police, whose members would enjoy ‘special constable’ status.

The CSU would undergo a week’s training in handling medical supplies and administering injections and then be deployed through the country, patrolling all open spaces. Anyone who was then caught out and about in defiance of the Government’s latest restrictions without due (accepted) cause would then be arrested on the spot and injected by the CSU operative on hand with the Coronavirus germ.

Given that those being so treated – by definition – can be taken to both deny that said germ is any different from normal ‘flu and also don’t seem to care whether they become part of the “collateral damage” occurring during any normal British winter because of their fatalistic attitude to life, this would seem to satisfy all concerned.

Within a week those injected would be off the streets, some in hospital, and no longer a danger to the rest of us.

Hopefully by then they would have also learned by personal example the truth as to whether or not the Coronavirus is no more harmful than the normal ‘flu and have a greater understanding of what this current crisis is all about … and in addition, perhaps, a great deal more about the sanctity of life itself.

If the above came to pass, I’d certainly put myself forward as a candidate for the CSU.

I’ve always slightly fancied myself in a smart new uniform.