Lockdown 2020 - Part 2: End of 2020

In addition to the environmental improvements now apparently possible, homelessness, a massive problem in Bristol, something that according to politicians was either the fault of the homeless person, or something that can't be solved, got solved. Homeless people had a bed in a hotel and were provided with 3 meals a day.

Bristol's normal AirBNB:

Obviously significant mental health and addiction issues weren't solved immediately, but it shows that if you want to solve something, it can be done, apparently overnight! Perhaps the economic woes of people can be solved when we want it to be solved and perhaps thats one to remember.

The empty city felt like a treat.

But some of the city’s best independent businesses were lost for good. Families behind them left to pick up the pieces of their lives.

Gutted about the Ironworks! Best full English in Bristol. Gone.

Some people tried to do something about is and this amazing poster by local Bristol artist Jayde Perkin appeared around local shops. But the volume of Amazon deliveries increased and in my view, thats a massive negative and is something within our control to change!

Realising who and what was important felt positive. Street cleaners, bus drivers, delivery drivers, nurses, policemen, these were the people who continued to work. Premiership footballers were no longer required. The super rich offered us nothing. Teaching unions made it sound like teachers were reluctant to go to work. Our new hero's were those who’s income and material wealth were below average. Strangely the market economy didn’t swing into action to save us, instead it was Government action and public sector workers who continued to provide the essential services we needed.

But despite the city being empty, nature improving, and despite our apparent appreciation for the things we have with our weekly clapping, we decided not to think about the stretched resources of the Council, and street cleaners were made to work even harder as we created mountains of litter for them to clear up.

Laughing gas seemed to be the drug of choice to get through lockdown, with boxes of canisters left on the floor. There is obviously one group of people who are eco friendly and care about the planets resources, and another group who just care about getting high

Then in the US a policeman knelt on George Floyds neck murdering him. A Black Lives Matter march was arranged in Bristol. The police used the standard pre-march crowd control methods calling protesters dangerous and reckless and selfish. Saying they should think of the NHS, their grandparents. But history has shown us that sometimes things matter so much, that even if lives are at stake, you need to act. You need to push back. You need to protest. (And data showed that after the event that this had absolutely no impact on Covid infection rates across the whole country so the comments about this before the event were not backed up by science or evidence).

The BLM demonstration in Bristol made global headlines after the adjustments made to the statue of Edward Colston (above) and I will write about it in another blog later this year.

Summer came and the 'eat out to help out' campaign gave tax relief for people who went to restaurants and pubs. People did what the Government encouraged. The scheme ran Monday to Thursday and pubs were busy with people not working but receiving 80% pay on furlough. Students returned to their job serving these people.

Students were also told to get back to University, pay their £9k and lectures would continue as normal so they should also pay their rent. There is too much money tied up in students to let them off the hook and allow wealthy landlords and greedy, lazy University leaders to lose their money so our future generations paid up. University started, no normality, no freshers week, lectures went online, they sat in small rooms staring at screens isolated from their homes, family and friends, but still in communal accommodation where you share bathrooms and kitchens and therefore would struggle to avoid virus transmission. So they got blamed when Covid numbers started to rise. It wasn't due to poor Government policy and decisions, of course not, it was these reckless young people, the perfect scapegoat for an inept, thoughtless and greedy Government.

Fortunately, towards the end of the year students started kicking back, I hope they're successful, as its a fucking disgrace: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/students-rent-strike-manchester-university-b1759108.html

Empty roads had been taken over for temporary bike lanes and eventually, electric rental scooters appeared in Bristol. In my view, a potentially positive thing if the scheme can listen to feedback and if the Government removes some of the restrictions it has in place which hinders the scheme.

Voices against the lockdown increased and protests which started small in the summer now involved a larger, broader range of people. Obviously the normal media approach was taken, these people were idiots, they would ruin Christmas, they're thick, the normal divide and rule approach. The strategy of ensuring that far right groups took an interest, something probably orchestrated by undercover police to ensure that no one in the mainstream can walk with them, became evident. The same policy which was successfully bringing PR disaster to XR was being applied to anyone against the lockdown measures.

On one hand the virus was killing people. But lets not forget that its whole existence is to spread and make people unwell. Thats what a virus does. It never claims to be going round keeping you safe. The police on the other hand, do. Now that protests or any gathering of people was a crime, the policing of these events became extremely aggressive.

Nothing highlighted this aggressive approach more than how Avon & Somerset Police approached an 'illegal rave' by young people (remember the term 'illegal rave' is a media term for a group of people aged 18-25, listening to music together, dancing, and enjoying a normal youth as generations before them have done). We're not talking about a military attack against the Queen here, just teenagers dancing. If the police had approached this event and used guns to open fire on the crowd, there would be outrage. However, a police dog is an equally dangerous weapon and the police went into this crowd of.... teenagers... on the basis of 'keeping the public safe from an invisible virus' and essentially opened fire, the dog tore into a girls leg ripping it half off: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-dog-attack-bristol-rave-b1749214.html

The video of the attack is here, don't watch it if you don't like horror:

Her ‘crime’.... being a teenager in lockdown 2020. Barred from school, attacked at parties, mugged for £9k+ rent and food, locked up and education stolen from them. Teenage years cancelled. Grow up in that but don’t you dare complain Otherwise you’ll be labeled selfish!

Avon & Somerset Police were on a roll. The crime of not wearing a face mask was so much easier to police. Plus you can keep repeating “there’s a pandemic“ while ignoring the fact that aggressive policing seemed to be reserved for demonstrators and the under 25s. The rich and famous continued to find loop holes so that their lives were not affected, comfortable off middle classes ignored the rules, and the well off ordered to quarantine in ski resorts strangely go missing, with no consequences, all reality TV stars went to Dubai with seemingly no restrictions, while the pensioner generation vocally pointed out that they ‘would refuse to be locked up’ (with no one commenting on the selfish irresponsibility of that). Jump on a skateboard however (perfectly legal exercise) and you’ll attract A&S finest:

The media also continued to focus on reckless students, dividing generations, dividing the population, the normal strategy to keep us arguing on social media, rather than turning round and asking difficult questions of the Government. The media and Government continued this strategy with arguments about Scotch Eggs. A total distraction from perhaps the more pressing questions like “where the fuck is this track and trace system?”

The £22bn spent on that could have been used to enhance the existing public sector track and trace resources which already exist within Councils for existing illnesses and which works perfectly well. Instead it bypassed Councils and went straight to companies like Deloitte. The Government described this system as “gold standard”, but I would challenge anyone to find one person in the UK to find someone who thinks that the pandemic response was helped with this enormous transfer of wealth to the private sector and to people who’s average pay is already closing in on £1m a year.

The year was ending with lockdown 2.0 turning into lockdown 3.0 with Tier 3 being extended to 4 and rumours of Tier 5 As the numbers increased.

Initially the second lockdown was slightly better than the first as more places stayed open. Places now trying to survive on deliveries and take away. But more depressing than the first for some reason I can't put my finger on. Perhaps it was being combined with the autumn and short days, perhaps the tedium. Maybe the lack of choice to do anything or the lack of anything Christmas related which normally breaks things up. Obviously seeing the same four walls for work and home has been a feature of the whole year but that has got a bit wearing. Or perhaps the lack of connection with people whether its events, gigs, theatre, cinema, or normal things where people gather. It was gone, and perhaps we all felt something was missing whether you used to go to these things regularly or not. It wasn't depression as such, although that felt like a label which could apply, but I felt it was more about the disconnection and disorientation mixed with increased anxiety creating a cloud, a weight, that was ever present even on good days.

2020 ended with the new strain and increased lockdowns. A bad end to a bad year. So I cannot conclude that 2020 was a good year. A new untreatable virus that killed people globally. Not good. Restrictions on our private lives and separating loved ones in their moments of grief leaving people to die alone. Not good. Massive economic damage. Not good. Unknown generational damage to our children and future generations. Not good

But also, I would say, its brought into focus how we have lost touch with what’s important. We rediscovered it for a short moments in 2020 when we appreciated the small things, the free things, but really important things in life. It has shown that we can do things to help the environment and help people who need to be helped. It shows that helping each other is important, society is important. It showed that properly resourced public services have an equal place along side private enterprise pursuing profit. I don’t hold out much optimism that it will be a lasting and long term change unless everyone of us makes a decision to remember this moment and remember that it wasn't the latest gadget, shopping for the lasted designer gear, it wasn’t lip fillers or eye brows, it wasn’t the largest global corporations swooping in to help and it wasn’t free market capitalism that helped when you were sick, it also wasn’t Snapchat or Instagram influencers or overpaid footballers that mattered. It was connection with friends, family, loved ones, the people you wanted to see but couldn’t. It was being there with loved ones in their dying moments, it was standing up for what was right. It was respecting people even if you disagreed with the rules. It was walking, nature, humanity and connection.

I hope we remember what was important and that 2021 is better for everyone.