We are about to be collectively gaslit about the Spring of 2020 and what really happened. It will be implied that your memory was the problem, not the rules. This is a common experience dealt out from governments to both disaster and conflict survivors and responders. A few tips:
Tip 1. Don't get angry. We are in the middle of a hard, deep Winter. Anger produces adrenaline and cortisol and you have produced enough of them already over the last 24 months. They make you ill. Instead, get informed [see below].
Tip 2. Understand why weak governments (and more often Dictatorships) have to rely on these tactics. When something is built up through personality and bluster and fear, it can only be deconstructed in a similar way.
Tip 3: Ppl may find comfort in misremembering '20 - maybe painting themselves as someone who knew rules were wrong.If you were a person who genuinely spoke out against rules and tried to find balance those people will start to really grate as they took none of the risks you did
Tip 4: Ministers rolled out to gaslight now have abhorrent form for this sort of sleight of hand and head-wrecking. They use intelligence and class to imply that sensible people would make different decisions to the masses. Particularly distressing example:
Tip 5: Take small comfort - You will not be gaslit to the extent of every other conflict and disaster I have worked on for the simple reason that this has been the most recorded and archived disaster in recent time. Your version of events is safe. Note date that I joined Twitter.
Tip 6: Demand more. This is a tactic used by weak governments who are not doing enough to shore up existing services and protecting their nation from the public. Ask Qs at the next election. Every husting should include UK disaster readiness questions.
Tip 7: Feel reassurance that the UK has some of the best disaster planning in the Universe. We knew what this was, how afraid to be, how to work with the rules, how to keep you fed and how to recover from this. We have got your back. Always @TheEPS1
For further reading please do consider pre-ordering #WhenTheDustSettles by me (31 March) and I would also recommend A State of Fear by @BareReality
Reminding myself of my own Tip 1 but can feel the blood boiling for this poor family:
Good coroners have always been braver than many realise. It’s powerful to see many of them daring to go there and critiquing the role of the Lockdowns in the decline of an individual’s mental health @NCISH_UK @RealDeniseWelch bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…
As I have said before - hospital data is useful - but it is no replacement for waiting for inquest @ProfLAppleby
@BBCNews@Ofcom Pointing to severely ill patients in beds as either vaccinated or unvaccinated in a news report is unethical and horrible. This segment should never have been commissioned or aired. I worry about any medic who thought this was ok or agreed to participate.
Nadine, love, Summer of 20 people were being told not to sing at funerals or allowed to go to a church service. So you might want to reconsider this as a defence
Britain actually has a bit of a history of exceptionalism in disaster response, although there may often be parity with the USA. We are a country know for our fast “recovering” - it is alleged that on the night of the Boston marathon bomb… independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…
..commanders motivated with statement that “tonight we do a London”. A reference to the fast pace of our “return to business as usual in the Summer of 2005”…We also have a long history of going our own way in international Disaster Victim Identification operations (see my book!)
Our “outlier” position can look like an obvious sign of just how bad our response is (and history will be the judge of that)… but I am not sure it’s necessary the gotcha moment that it’s being portrayed as here.
When an area is about to flood responders use “placebo sandbags”. Bags of sand that are dropped off to filter out a bit of the waste from the water and slow the deluge by about 10 mins. So why drop them off? Because it keeps the about-to-be-flooded briefly quiet and makes….
it LOOK like the responders are doing something to help. First thing that elected local politicians will often demand is a show of delivering the bags. A soggy cloth mask or a poorly fitting surgical mask makes limited difference to infection control but is a comforting placebo
Delivery of placebo by state can also be used to justify all sorts of inaction. What really makes difference in flood is long term infrastructure and societal investment - like what would have made some diff to our pandemic experience- long term investment in NHS and social care
I have raised concerns about the way that death data has been used to terrorise from the start. Reviews underway this week seem to be highlighting concerns that many of us have shared since March 20.But I want to make one thing very clear…
My colleagues in death planning care have seen more loss than ever before. The data is not relevant to them. What is- that death from many causes in hospitals and at home has been relentless for 2 years.They have been the difference in this disaster as I always knew they would be
Many of them have been taunted with “where are all the bodies then?” The dead are in their careful care. We do not fully understand the debt that we owe them but trust me when is say it’s huge. @AAPTTweets@TheEPS1