I'm not doing it. Nobody I've spoken to is planning to. Our next door neighbour is a nurse and she is not the slightest bit interested in getting clapped for. It was ok for the first couple of weeks back in lockdown but I'm not starting again.
Which is interesting, because the country's largest study on neighbourhood cohesion (carried out by the Universities of Manchester and Essex) actually found that relations became more fractured during the spring lockdown. There was quite an interesting piece looking into this study on Countryfile a few weeks ago; still on iPlayer if anyone is interested.I’m wondering whether the return of the clapping is in part orchestrated by the Government or SPI-B (the pandemic behavioural science committee) to try and harness the ‘community cohesion’ feel of the first lockdown and drive up compliance through increased focus on the NHS.
The Covid-19 pandemic has been portrayed as a time when communities have become closer and when neighbours helped each other, but new research suggests that in reality neighbourhoods have become more fractured during the lockdown.
Dr Magda Borkowska from the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, and Dr James Laurence at the University of Manchester, used the UK-wide longitudinal household panel study Understanding Society to look at how people felt about their neighbours and their local neighbourhood during June 2020 and compared this with what they reported in 2011/12 and 2014/15. Surprisingly, they found that across the whole population the percentage of people reporting positive feelings about their community was lowest during the pandemic period.
I’m wondering whether the return of the clapping is in part orchestrated by the Government or SPI-B (the pandemic behavioural science committee) to try and harness the ‘community cohesion’ feel of the first lockdown and drive up compliance through increased focus on the NHS. It’s funny how it’s just re-emerged after Annemarie Plas was so keen to end it last time.
Which is interesting, because the country's largest study on neighbourhood cohesion (carried out by the Universities of Manchester and Essex) actually found that relations became more fractured during the spring lockdown. There was quite an interesting piece looking into this study on Countryfile a few weeks ago; still on iPlayer if anyone is interested.
We trust our neighbours less - lockdown and a decline in community cohesion - Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER)
New study by ISER's Dr Magda Borkowska with Dr James Laurence at the University of Manchester suggests the portrayal of lockdown as a time of neighbourliness and communities coming together may not reflect the reality of the situationwww.iser.essex.ac.uk
You have just reminded me about Kevin Bridges and his piece about "self esteem Friday!"Good to see that applause is being accepted as currency once more.
I didn't join in last time and I won't be doing this time. Virtue signalling of the highest order.
Psychological nonsense. Behavioural science in action.
Firstly, my apologies to @dan5324 for my response - I did agree with the core of your post, but just not the way you said it. Sorry if my reply sounded angry! I absolutely think that there should be an inquiry into the NHS's dealing with this crisis - in no way is it unreasonable to question their actions.The quoted poster does have a point though, albeit more directed towards the leadership and governance of the health service rather than the front-line staff.
ISTR there was an exchange a little while back between Jeremy Hunt and a rather bad-tempered Chris Whitty regarding NHS capacity. It's absolutely not unreasonable to ask the question whether the hundreds of billions spent on lockdown, not to mention the consequential negative costs imposed on livelihoods and wellbeing, could have been better invested in boosting NHS capacity. It's possible that the answer to that question is that is wasn't viable, in which case let's see the evidence, but it's certainly not unreasonable to ask the question.
I am inclined to agree with you here! Ferguson's comments were very depressing and I fear that government control is tightening by the day.I said (half seriously) the first time around that it was a seemingly harmless way of testing control. I do worry I get a little tinfoil hatty at times but in the current situation you just don’t know, plus with Ferguson’s recent comments it’s maybe not such a crazy theory....
Wasn't just me that made that link then!You have just reminded me about Kevin Bridges and his piece about "self esteem Friday!"
She did and wanted some sort of annual clap. Then she instigated it again today, she must have missed being on the news about it.
If it is, then I rather think this is going to backfire spectacularly, if comments on here and on Twitter are anything to go by.I’m wondering whether the return of the clapping is in part orchestrated by the Government or SPI-B (the pandemic behavioural science committee) to try and harness the ‘community cohesion’ feel of the first lockdown and drive up compliance through increased focus on the NHS. It’s funny how it’s just re-emerged after Annemarie Plas was so keen to end it last time.
People would be cheering and waving to this plucky, dedicated key worker still out there working into the evening when I was really just delivering fancy wine to nice middle class folk!
Seems more appropriate now than ever. For those that have no idea what I'm talking about see Youtube link below.Wasn't just me that made that link then!
The quoted poster does have a point though, albeit more directed towards the leadership and governance of the health service rather than the front-line staff.
At best there's some presentational issues, as there hasn't been much evidence of capacity having been built up or preparations made. If a government body wishes us to put our lives on hold on their account then they need to elocute a pretty solid case, and (IMV) they haven't really done that. Perhaps more so than last time round, as in March we never really knew what was the actual purpose of the lockdown, whereas this time it seems pretty clearly centred upon NHS capacity.
ISTR there was an exchange a little while back between Jeremy Hunt and a rather bad-tempered Chris Whitty regarding NHS capacity. It's absolutely not unreasonable to ask the question whether the hundreds of billions spent on lockdown, not to mention the consequential negative costs imposed on livelihoods and wellbeing, could have been better invested in boosting NHS capacity. It's possible that the answer to that question is that is wasn't viable, in which case let's see the evidence, but it's certainly not unreasonable to ask the question.
London’s hospitals are less than two weeks from being overwhelmed by covid even under the ‘best’ case scenario, according to an official briefing given to the capital’s most senior doctors this afternoon.
NHS England London medical director Vin Diwakar set out the stark analysis to the medical directors of London’s hospital trusts on a Zoom call.
The NHS England presentation, seen by HSJ (see slides below story), showed that even if the number of covid patients grew at the lowest rate considered likely, and measures to manage demand and increase capacity, including open the capital’s Nightingale hospital, were successful, the NHS in London would be short of nearly 2,000 general and acute and intensive care beds by 19 January.
The tweet by the founder is going down like a lead balloon in the replies fortunately (yes it's twitter but I doubt the mood on Twitter was quite like that last time):
It looks like the tweet has now been deleted.I had a look through that Twitter feed. And whilst not read all of the thousands of replies, I probably read a few hundred. Couldn't see a single reply in favour of this "Clap For Carers" brought back again! Obviously this isn't as warmly received as she would have liked! Not surprisingly as many people will feel like me, that along with the other current factors, bringing this back again is another piece in the jigsaw that we've practically resetted back to where we were again back in late March/April last year. This is just NOT needed! After all this backlash, I wonder if she'll decide to cancel it? Though doesn't look like it so far unfortunately.
The Grauniad said:Since relaunching the campaign on Wednesday under the new title, Clap For Heroes, Annemarie Plas, a Dutch woman living in London, said she had been “targeted with personal abuse and threats against myself and my family by a hateful few on social media channels”. She urged people to make their own decision on whether to clap on Thursday.
In a statement, Plas said: “Irrespective of their views and reasons for believing this is an acceptable way to behave, I did not set out to make a political statement and will not put my loved ones at risk.
“I have no political agenda, I am not employed by the government, I do not work in PR, I am just an average mum at home trying to cope with the lockdown situation. As a consequence I have opted to distance myself from tonight’s planned applause and will no longer seek to raise further awareness of it.”
Annemarie Plas has given a statement to The Guardian decrying the fact that there was a negative reaction to the event being restarted.
I didn’t see anyone giving “personal abuse”, merely opposing the clapping for the same reason as most of the above posters - it’s crass tokenism that achieves nothing. “Personal abuse” ≠ “Disagreeing with me on social media”.
I don't agree with any form of personal abuse, and generally find the best approach on Twitter is to not engage at all. Sometimes people take things which are not personal abuse at all as personal abuse, but equally sometimes the abuse was there but you didn't see it because it was reported and removed before you got there.Annemarie Plas has given a statement to The Guardian decrying the fact that there was a negative reaction to the event being restarted.
I didn’t see anyone giving “personal abuse”, merely opposing the clapping for the same reason as most of the above posters - it’s crass tokenism that achieves nothing. “Personal abuse” ≠ “Disagreeing with me on social media”.
I don't agree with any form of personal abuse, and generally find the best approach on Twitter is to not engage at all. Sometimes people take things which are not personal abuse at all as personal abuse, but equally sometimes the abuse was there but you didn't see it because it was reported and removed before you got there.
She's a normal person who tried to do a nice thing, and discovered through a massive volume of responses that she'd judged it very badly indeed. Even if the responses were polite, or funny, or even sympathetic, it's unlikely to be a good feeling having tens of thousands of people tell you you messed up.