I’m supposed to write a blog post today. I missed last week’s and I’m determined to not let another week slide by. BUT. I live in a place called Bury South and our MP has today defected from the Conservatives to the Labour party and I’m honestly all over the place. The blog post I was going to write was about that the experience of trauma is compounded by the refusal of the perpetrator or the person responsible for causing harm refusing to acknowledge or make amends and I think I can bring these two things together in a way that might help me a little.

Since 2010, the Tories have worked hard to increase the levels of inequality in our society.  Since 2019 when Christian Wakeford won Bury South by 402 votes, the Tories have seemingly doubled down on their cruelty, aiming for the worst Brexit possible, failing to provide adequate public health measures including PPE for health and social care staff or adequate sick pay whilst isolating, all whilst funnelling money to Tory donors, they have taken money away from Universal Credit just as a cost of living crisis is kicking in, they have attempted to turn navy warships on asylum seekers in the Channel, criminalise protest, threatened to defund the BBC and failed time and time again to realise that disabled people are part of society too and don’t deserve to die an easily preventable death in a global pandemic.  Wakeford’s defection comes the week after a series of revelations that confirmed that the Prime Minister oversaw a culture of alcohol consumption and complete disregard for the rules the rest of the country was conforming to and could be seen as an attempt to extend his own political career rather than for the benefit of his constituents. 

During the lockdown, many people including myself will have experienced the trauma of being separated from family and friends, of being plunged into a scary unfamiliar times whilst having to continue to be a productive member of society, of watching friends become very very sick, of having to work whilst homeschooled children buckle under the stress of isolation, dodgy wifi and uncertainty. An airborne virus that for nearly 12 months we had no defences against was stressful enough but then the added distress of going through all this whilst having to depend on a government that runs on soundbites and sycophancy for leadership was enough to nearly break us.  Then we discover it was much worse than “just” greed and incompetence; turns out not only were the people making the rules not following the rules, they were seemingly at a party every other night all through our darkest times (whilst ensuring East Midlands, West Yorkshire and the North West barely got respite from lockdowns also plunging us into lockdown hours before the start of Eid because the “BAME community” were not taking the virus seriously enough).  In time we can start to heal from the scars left by a naturally occurring virus but until acknowledgement and amendment for the human made elements of the crisis is forthcoming, healing will be difficult. 

And that brings us back to today’s events. Healing is also difficult when Labour voters point out the unsuitability of Wakford to represent us. His voting record is the worst of right wing populism. The trauma of being told this is who we are now. Any objection cut down by “you don’t want Labour to win”. Truth be told, if Labour is now anti-immigration, pro-poverty, pro-billionaires, anti-public sector then no, I don’t want them to win. Labour should be the party of the NHS staff, the teachers, and the people who worked to ensure the food chain didn’t break down (from the farms, to freight, to Tescos). I mean the clue is in the name. And we are supposed to welcome someone from the party that did their best to break us with open arms?

I feel so hopeless.