Unlocking lockdown
I remember very clearly when the lockdown started: lots of well-informed people appeared on TV, online and in the newspapers telling us what we had to do and why. Public health, politicians, medics. And we went for it - well, most of us in Scotland did. I can't speak for anywhere else. It was too scary not to do what was asked of us. There were stories about groups of what are usually referred to as 'kids' gathering in local parks to drink and have a laugh. Probably not much 'social distancing' going on there, I would think. But they weren't normally doing any harm, except to each other and, lucky for them, they're in a low-risk group where C-19 is concerned at least. Generally, people did what the right thing.
But unlocking lockdown? Did I miss the bit where another lot of well-informed people came onto TV and told us about the effect on human beings of being cooped up at home for 13 weeks? Especially the effect on young people in their early to mid teens whose social life is bound up with their friends whom they haven't seen because the schools and after school clubs are shut. Or older adolescents - and I reckon most people are adolescents now till they're about 23 because that's how we treat them - who can't get to the pub or the club or to gigs. Did I miss the warnings from the police of the dangers of the combination of hot weather, alcohol and frustrated people deprived of their usual outlets?
It's not that we don't know about this. I know and have worked with police officers off and on and we've had the occasional laugh about 'praying for rain' in the summer because that keeps folk off the streets and reduces the rate of anti-social behaviour.
Lockdown seems to have paralysed us socially.
Here I think a special accolade must go to the TV stations which have failed to provide the kind of entertainment that might have kept people at home during the pandemic. They could have searched their archives for new material for us to watch or come up with ways to deal with social distancing. Instead, they've offered the same old recipe of old movies, re-runs of reality shows and lots and lots of bad news. And yet, these TV stations are making a lot of money from advertising online services to people whose access to shops and other services has been very limited in the past three months. These TV stations have no social role. They just want to go on making money.
And the very people who could have helped ease people back into 'normal' life have been shut out of public life. We haven't heard much from teachers, social workers, GPs, educational psychologists, youth workers and police.
Mental health workers have been able to get the occasional word in, but I'm cynical enough to think that's lip-service: mental health issues are sexy because they're supported by 'celebs' like footballers and royalty - or they were before lockdown. Who knows what their future is, since the Westminster government will now be looking for ways to reduce spending.
Is there any money going into supporting anyone coming out of lockdown?
The professionals who actually help people with their problems day to day are not high-level academics or medical experts. They're certainly not politicians. They are the people whose services have been on the receiving end of austerity for over a decade. They are the nurses in England who have been refused a wage rise despite their work during the pandemic, the police officers whose numbers in England have been cut, social workers and youth workers in local councils who always seem to be the first to suffer when cuts come along, teachers who have been at work for months either looking after the children of key workers or transferring their teaching from the classroom to online or getting ready for the next academic year - or, more likely, all of these.
In Scotland, some jobs have only been secured by the Scottish Government moving money around to make sure social needs are covered.
These jobs - teachers, social workers, GPs, educational psychologists, youth workers and police - are all part of the caring professions these days. As support from the extended family has become less available and families have become more and more complex and disparate as a group, who else is available to support them?
But is anyone supporting the people who do these jobs?
But unlocking lockdown? Did I miss the bit where another lot of well-informed people came onto TV and told us about the effect on human beings of being cooped up at home for 13 weeks? Especially the effect on young people in their early to mid teens whose social life is bound up with their friends whom they haven't seen because the schools and after school clubs are shut. Or older adolescents - and I reckon most people are adolescents now till they're about 23 because that's how we treat them - who can't get to the pub or the club or to gigs. Did I miss the warnings from the police of the dangers of the combination of hot weather, alcohol and frustrated people deprived of their usual outlets?
It's not that we don't know about this. I know and have worked with police officers off and on and we've had the occasional laugh about 'praying for rain' in the summer because that keeps folk off the streets and reduces the rate of anti-social behaviour.
Lockdown seems to have paralysed us socially.
Here I think a special accolade must go to the TV stations which have failed to provide the kind of entertainment that might have kept people at home during the pandemic. They could have searched their archives for new material for us to watch or come up with ways to deal with social distancing. Instead, they've offered the same old recipe of old movies, re-runs of reality shows and lots and lots of bad news. And yet, these TV stations are making a lot of money from advertising online services to people whose access to shops and other services has been very limited in the past three months. These TV stations have no social role. They just want to go on making money.
And the very people who could have helped ease people back into 'normal' life have been shut out of public life. We haven't heard much from teachers, social workers, GPs, educational psychologists, youth workers and police.
Mental health workers have been able to get the occasional word in, but I'm cynical enough to think that's lip-service: mental health issues are sexy because they're supported by 'celebs' like footballers and royalty - or they were before lockdown. Who knows what their future is, since the Westminster government will now be looking for ways to reduce spending.
Is there any money going into supporting anyone coming out of lockdown?
The professionals who actually help people with their problems day to day are not high-level academics or medical experts. They're certainly not politicians. They are the people whose services have been on the receiving end of austerity for over a decade. They are the nurses in England who have been refused a wage rise despite their work during the pandemic, the police officers whose numbers in England have been cut, social workers and youth workers in local councils who always seem to be the first to suffer when cuts come along, teachers who have been at work for months either looking after the children of key workers or transferring their teaching from the classroom to online or getting ready for the next academic year - or, more likely, all of these.
In Scotland, some jobs have only been secured by the Scottish Government moving money around to make sure social needs are covered.
These jobs - teachers, social workers, GPs, educational psychologists, youth workers and police - are all part of the caring professions these days. As support from the extended family has become less available and families have become more and more complex and disparate as a group, who else is available to support them?
But is anyone supporting the people who do these jobs?
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