The Burial of the Free

A previous post (Set me free!) bemoaned our loss of freedom and the ready compliance with which we are following constraining, draconian instructions without protest. That piece quoted a poem by Browning, but a number of people have suggested The Burial of the Dead from Eliot's The Waste Land:

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

Mixing memory of freedoms lost with desire to be out again in the spring weather is surely apposite. An article in the Telegraph today reiterated these views. As usual, the pliant press kowtow to the government line, constantly repeating their refrain and transmitting the daily propaganda campaign on all channels, unedited and without criticism. We are told the government are curtailing our freedom in arbitrary ways, while dissenting scientific views from other epidemiologists or medical specialists in other European countries are dismissed and ignored.

No, we don't want to overwhelm the Health Service, but now we have gone too far and many beds lie empty and idle. Freedom is the right to choose, and people should be allowed to choose their own risk level. I am at high risk and would not wish to mix in crowds, but I should like to go for isolated country walks or simple drives to alleviate the tedium. Other people should be restricted if they are infected, and their contacts limited in their movement. But the majority of young, healthy people should be allowed to choose if they wish to meet their families, go to work, or open the shops on which their livelihood depends. Toby has opened a new website, Lockdown Sceptics, where people can share their views on this. Unlike many proponents of modern woke who blindly "no platform" anyone they disagree with, his site is not a blind rant and welcomes reasoned discussion from both sides.

Oh no!

splash
went my phone in the loo
I closed my eyes
and gave out a big sigh -
it was a doubly sad sight to see
for I had, just minutes before,
unfortunately had a huge wee.

Annie Elliott

On another note, I think Ann must have taken my plea to turn away from our reliance on China, because this morning she threw her iPhone in the toilet. Well, to be strictly honest, it was an accident. The phone was in the side pocket of her cardigan and fell out when she stood and turned round. The poor woman had to fish it out and wash it in the sink as thoroughly as if it had contacted the dreaded CV, but happily it seems to work again OK now.