I Told You So

 June 21st isn't happening. Since March, I've been saying it won't. Every time I said that we need to take a stand to end lockdown, I heard back "we'll be coming out of lockdown very soon" or "why are you bothering when we know it's going to end on 21st June?". I do wonder how those people must be feeling right now. I have, in the case of those who treated me worst, been unable to resist saying "I told you so" directly to them. Nonetheless, we move on from this particular incident of vindication and must begin to examine why it has come about. 

There are two clear and equally likely reasons for this postponement occurring: the vaccine, and the damage of lockdown. In the case of the vaccine, it is well known that the vaccine only has clearance for emergency use. It has not passed enough safety trials for mass distribution outside of an emergency situation. This means that if the government had lifted lockdown on the 21st as promised, they would no longer have a pretext for legally distributing an experimental medical intervention. There are a number of beliefs circulating that estimate the motivation behind pushing these new, rushed injections so forcefully upon so many of the population - many of them highly sinister. However, I believe that the simplest explanation must be the most likely, and the simplest explanation is money. Pharmaceutical companies that have long been known to care more about their wallets than anyone's welfare are making bucketloads out of the "vaccination roll out" and it is more than conceivable that they have enough power to lean on the government and persuade them to continue it. 

The other reason that the lockdown did not lift on the 21st June is because the next stage of events would be to assess and repair the damage that lockdown has caused. The full attention of the nation upon these matters would bring to light exactly how disproportionate the measures were, and exactly how much we are going to suffer for decades to come. The government, in short, is procrastinating out of fear. They are playing for time, waiting the game out, rather than admitting their crimes and taking accountability. This disgusting act of cowardice can only be sustained for as long as they are able to misdirect the attention of the masses. Sadly, in the past year, my esteem for the masses has dropped significantly and I do not believe them as a group to be capable of turning away from the pretty shiny promise that keeps mysteriously getting out of their reach. 

This is why the 21st didn't happen. It's also why the 19th probably won't happen either. 

Never before have I so hoped that I am wrong. And yet, when I am right, I hope that it will allow others to open their minds a fraction more and consider listening to me. It's been 454 days since lockdown. 65 weeks since "3 weeks to save the NHS". And I'll remind you gladly that it's called Covid-19. Coronavirus disease 2019. The emergency has passed. We need as many people as possible to recognise the catastrophic levels of harm that have been inflicted on the present and the future, so that we can begin to recover. If you come to me and say "I was wrong", I will go to any measures to support you in the inevitable grief that occurs as you take in the magnitude of the situation, and then we will fight side by side to fix it, no more said. Well, except for "I told you so".