Thread by @shaunjlawson

Christ, this is flawed. You see: I'd have done what Aaron would've done. But we're both wrong. VERY wrong.

What happens to children when you remove all daily structure and social contact from their lives?

What happens to children whose parents don't have internet access?

https://twitter.com/AaronBastani/status/1316053512984367109

What happens to children when you spend THIS length of time making them feel afraid of everything?

What happens to children whose parents can't magically keep them homeschooled over this length of time?

What happens to parents who can't work because their children are never at school?

How can the left - THE LEFT! - be this oblivious to what would happen to poorer children if none of them went to school until a vaccine had been distributed?

We think we have all the answers. Invariably, our answers are couched in ideology and dogma. But we don't. Life just ain't that simple - and Covid-19 is the most complex challenge we've all faced since the war.

And yes, it has come down to cold headed, very hard decisions.

If Covid did kill young people in at all significant numbers, of course they wouldn't have gone back to school. But it doesn't.

If young kids weren't likely to be horribly psychologically affected, they'd have been expected to wear masks in school too. But they would be.

Schools up and down the UK have done everything they can to accommodate what are truly unique circumstances,

But we on the left arrogantly ignore the realities of daily life for most families at our peril. Life *does* need to go on.

During lockdown, how many children were stuck without a proper meal and living in horrendous environments with abusive parents? Do we care about that? If so, then oh look: IT'S NOT SIMPLE.

As a result of the way the world's changed, how many jobs have been lost?

Do we think fewer would be somehow lost if we were in permanent lockdown? What do we think happens to people who lose their jobs and are cripped for the long term? Oh look: IT'S NOT SIMPLE.

When an economy is systematically wrecked by something like this, what do we think happens to the poorest? Do we think it's all milk and honey for them or something? But then, we've already displayed our ignorance on that by, in many cases on the left, supporting Brexit. Genius.

It's not simple. It's never been simple. And for all that our government is outrageously incompetent and should be in the dock, it's a mess in Spain and a mess in France too.

These have been totally uncharted waters for everyone.

And the difference between Keir Starmer and Boris Johnson is: Johnson is ignoring the science. Starmer is listening to it. The moment the SAGE advice was leaked, Starmer responded. Johnson didn't. Starmer showed leadership; Johnson played Russian roulette with the whole country

Listening to the science is the EXACT OPPOSITE of the kind of doctrinaire ideology we think we can just impose on the entire country regardless of circumstances.

The arrogance of the approach of some people on here is breathtaking. And just plain ignorant.