Brave New World

The New Normal- PM in Intensive Care 06/04/2020

Week Four of lockdown (or is it Week Five or Three) has started with everyone convincing themselves and each other that following a period of disorientation, we were all adjusting to the new normal. Work appears to be settling into a new pattern and demands from management about hitting targets are starting to reassert themselves. Today the Dow Jones closed 1,200 points up as investors are beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel, with death rates in Spain and Italy lower over a 10 day period, some countries that aren’t South Korea- Austria, Greece and New Zealand are beginning to claim success in containment.

And yet. Bodies are pilling up in New York city parks, with talk of using them as burial grounds- a permanent marker of this shocking times for future generations to ponder, and talk of this week being one of the worst America has ever experienced. Trump has emerged as a malignant narcissist 100 times more sinister and callous than any of us could have feared a few years ago, with reports of US raids on shipments of masks to countries, states running out of medical equipment and rightwing mania about trialling a speculative drug. In the UK last night, within an hour of the Queen giving a moving and perfect address to the nation, news emerged that Boris Johnson had been admitted to hospital after 10 days of isolation. Tonight the Prime Minister was moved to intensive care- a very worrying development for the country. The scale of such a development is hard to fathom. And yet life will go on tomorrow, as it did in war torn regions after the initial shock. I remember it happening in Northern Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s  However, this will have a toll on our mental health; how much, only time will tell. In the meantime, every right minded person wishes that Johnson makes a full recovery.