Jonathan Eida | News
Times like these we are currently experiencing often bring people together and create harmony where there was once discord. For most people, this has meant putting aside their political quarrels and embracing a non-partisan unity. A select few, however, were not willing to countenance this option and so resorted to their pre-crisis partisanship.
Last week, Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital with the virus. Thankfully it seems as though he is out of the woods, and has been discharged. That did not mean that, that during his time in hospital, the partisan hackery was put on hold. People seemingly caught up in the Twitter-orientated mindset, were saying some rather sickening things about the PM. These people were small in number, however there were enough comments for it to be considered worrying. It is very hard to see us ever coming together as a society if, even during times like these, we cannot find some relatively simple common ground.
The most prominent comment in this vein was that of a Labour Mayor. Labour’s Sheila Oakes, Mayor of Heanor in Derbyshire, made some rather upsetting remarks about Boris’ condition. She said: ‘Sorry, he completely deserves this and he is one of the worst PMs we’ve ever had’. Why being a subjectively bad PM ought to condemn a person to suffering and having a brush with death doesn’t really make sense to us. But perhaps this is what happens when you spend too long on Twitter!
Labour, in all fairness, handled the affair in an appropriate manner. Ms Oakes had the whip withdrawn soon after, effectively removing her ability to act officially on behalf of the party (although she remains provisionally a member), which is an apt response. Labour doesn’t need any more controversy! Oakes has come out and apologised for her comments.
These comments coming from a Mayor are particularly shocking, however they were by no means the only similar ones to come out. What all these remarks signify is an intense radicalism growing in society, which is very unlikely to be stamped out anytime soon. It is evident that some people are unable to see past their party lines, even when lives are at stake. Most people put personal politics aside at times like this, but the fact that some apparently cannot should be very worrying to us all.
