On the clapping. Our household has stopped. Not, because for one moment we don't value the NHS. We do. As some will know I used to work in it and still have friends putting themselves at risk everyday to care for people with Covid 19.
My problem with it is two fold. It's getting a bit poppy day-ish. You now have to clap. People are watching to see who is clapping and who isn't - I mean even Prof D is taking notes of who is clapping on his street
and I don't like that kind of enforced "jollity". It smacks too much of New Years Eve where you are forced to have a damn good time whether you want to or not.
The other reason, and this is more difficult to explain, is that it kind of diverts from what has happened in the past and what is happening now in the NHS. I live in Worthing and I can guarantee that the majority of people on my street, all of whom come out and clap (and take note of who is not clapping), vote Conservative.
Well whoop-di-do, if they hadn't voted Tory the NHS would not be in the mess it is in now. Underfunded for the last decade, wages frozen, buildings left to deteriorate way past any safe working levels. This happened in the last 10 years. I have seen it and experienced it.
Instead of clapping try not voting Conservative, in the long run it will do the NHS much more good.