We are all in it together

There’s nae truth in the rumour, that I’ve just started, that Keith Richards has been summoned to several Royal estates to share the antibodies he developed by inhaling his old man’s ashes, snorting fifty years of coke off slim blonde starlets belly buttons and swallying vats of Jim Beam.

Yes, there is one rule for us, another for them. Never mind the health and safety of the countless staff, and those exposed to his Royal luggishness in Scotland as it’s made public that Charles Windsor has the dreaded virus. On a human level I hope the man makes a speedy recovery. On a political level I am angry and frustrated that his entourage of advisors and himself can just disobey the advice of medical professionals we, the rest of us, are trying to comply with because, in his position, he can. They all can.

We are all human beings, we are all born equal. Well…. maybe not so much.

Real people, with real lives and real jobs and real everyday problems, with real fears and worries, with parents they love and weans and grandweans they cherish, working around him, and the whole royal pomp and pish are now at higher risk. Think about that.

Monarchy? Royalty? Aye that’ll be right.

What are you going to do?

On Day 10 of 14 days isolation. For the sake of my sanity I’m trying to limit news and social media, particularly Twitter.

The only good news I can see over the last few days is that former First Minister Alex Salmond is not guilty of the charges brought against him. The flip-side to what actually had gone on in the period up to those charges being made will be played out once this current horrific nightmare we all face is over.

Yesterday, as I trawled through Netflix avoiding any but the most basic household tasks, I watched on the box the 1999 Oliver Stone directed sports movie epic starring Al Pacino, “Any Given Sunday”.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it? Pacino as a coach of a struggling NFL team makes a motivational speech to his team, who are under pressure and losing, which, it occurred to me, with some adaptions I’ve made, seems to fit, for me, about how I feel about the pandemic we all now face, and how we overcome it. I hope in some very small way that it helps.

Here’s my adapted version of that speech……

“I don’t know what to say, really. We are three minutes till the biggest battle of our lives. It all comes down to today, and the next few weeks. Now, either we heal, bond and fight back, as a team, a global family, or we’re gonna crumble, inch by inch, til we may be finished.

We’re in hell right now, ladies and gentlemen, believe me. And, we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell one inch at a time.

You know, when you start to get old in life things get taken from you. I mean that’s…part of life. But, you only learn that when you start losing stuff, in inches. You find out life is a game of inches.

So is this global pandemic, a game of inches. Because the margin for error is so small. I mean one social gathering together may be a step too far, one instance of disregarding keeping a social distance of 2metres from another human being may increase the spread, and you risk seriously compromising the health of a loved one, a friend or a complete stranger, or several of these.

The inches we need are everywhere around us.They’re in every break that goes our way in life, every minute, every second. Every decision we personally make.

On this team, in our global family, we fight for that inch. On this team, we tear down and condemn every negative self serving scheme, like hoarding and disregarding the advice medical experts around us, we tear it to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch, because we know when we add up all those inches that’s gonna make the fuckin’ difference between winning and losing! Between livin’ and dyin’!

Now nobody can make you do it. You got to look at the man or woman next to you. Look into their eyes! Now I think you’re gonna see another human being who will go that inch with you. You’re gonna see a person who will sacrifice himself for this team because he or she knows, when it comes down to it, you’re gonna do the same for them.

That’s a team, folks, humanity, our team. And, either we heal now, we use our brains and do all of the right things, take responsible actions as a team, or we will die as individuals.

That’s life at the moment guys.
That’s all it is. It’s that simple. Stay at home, wash your hands, look after yourself,your loved ones at home and those that are vulnerable. Otherwise keep away from others. Help our brave front-line and support health workers win this fight.

Now, what are YOU gonna do?”

It’s going to be alright

The world faces a potential crisis not seen in just under a hundred years.

Decisions about attempts to contain, manage and hopefully see off a viral pandemic, (knowledge of which is evolving on a daily basis) are currently being made, for much of the English-speaking parts of the planet, by three of the biggest dunderheids that ever managed to clamber over the top of others to rise out of the cesspit of politics to sit in the big seat of power.

The combined dull intellects of Trump, Johnson and Morrison, tasked with buffering humanity from such a global crisis, creates a perfect storm, a coincidence of opportunity and outbreak which is as dangerous as the virus itself.

Listening to experts, understanding what’s being explained to them, and acting upon advice provided is not something that any of these narcissistic individuals is known for.

Chaos abounds. The media stoking the fire, social media helping to fan the flames of self and panic. Hoard, queue-jump, deny others for our own benefit. Dog-eat-dog. It’s grim, and it’s only the early days of what potentially is coming. Panic makes the situation more dire.

Our passion, as advocates of an independent Scotland, my passion, is temporality simmering on a back burner as we face this crisis, which by the very nature of Britain’s weak and confusing response, clearly demonstrates yet again the urgency, once this pandemic is under control, for Scotland to be able to make its own decisions on behalf of its people.

Those trying to make political capital from the fact that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made public comments on the plan to address the virus before the bumbling incompetent in London managed to get his boss, Dominic Cumming’s permission to stick his toffee nose under a BBC microphone, should be ashamed of themselves. What a bawbag Piers Morgan really is. Now is not the time for politics. Increasingly we are in this together, for the long haul.

Please, please too, think of others when you are at the food shopping. Hoarding is only going to make matters worse for the more vulnerable in our communities. If we act together, if we look after each other, we will be alright. It will pass.

When it comes to shortages of bog roll for the self-quarantined, be assured, there are plenty Daily Mails, Express’s, Sun’s, Telegraph’s, Herald’s and Hootsmon’s to go round.

…and with some satisfaction.