Poem review of 2020 year

Cllr Ketan Sheth, chairman, community and wellbeing scrutiny committee, Brent Council, writes:

2020: We all had such high hopes..., a new decade with glittering events,

The Olympics, the Euro championship, and for Brexiteers, a final farewell to the EU membership.

Instead Storm Coronavirus continued to brew from the far, and Prof Witty become an instant social-media star!

The first cases of the virus began to take its toll, sending all into a frenzy of panic buying loo roll!

BoJo went on the box with ever so muddled lockdown rules, while super-chirpy Joe Wicks got in on the act to help out the NHS.

The Queen promised us that better days would surely return, so we all did our bit: stayed at home to help out.

But Cummings drove miles to Barnard Castle to check out his eyesight, then thousands flocked to the beach to check out the sunlight.

While Black Lives Matter gained momentum and made headlines; and the Premier League football returned to empty stadiums.

Dishy Rishi told us: Eat Out to Help Out, students took to the streets over exams fiasco to shout out.

Schools eventually reopened as an absolute priority, as safe; but the world-beater test-and-trace failed to keep pace.

BoJo dithered again about a circuit breaker, then made yet another U-turn to lockdown us again.

The new coronavirus strain dashed all hope, but the Pfizer vaccine revived once more our hope!

Prof Van-Tam poured water on fire with his metaphor, BoJo cancelled Christmas and placed us all into Tier 4,

And declared merrily on Christmas Eve that Brexit deal was done, but I’ve seen enough, I’m calling who won!

Love or hypocrisy

Trevor Ellis, Chalkhill Road, Wembley, writes:

When historians prepare to record the key events of 2020, it is (unfortunately) certain that the Covid-19 pandemic will be the centrepiece.

People naturally feel afraid as the virus continues to spread in spite of the efforts to counteract it with facemasks, hand-washing and standing two metres apart.

Just think about the strain and frustration that has been placed upon people who are accustomed to living their daily lives in relative freedom, who suddenly find that they have to observe (by law) rules that are designed to protect them. Without the ability to show compassion, human society would be without hope.

Hope has been found in the vaccine, but already it is said that a growing number of people are reluctant to take it.

I nevertheless believe that some hope is better than none, although I appreciate that other people may not share my point of view.

If there is anything to be learned about 2020, it is that humans are indeed endowed with the ability to act and respond to threats to the lives of each other. However, should that mean that the ability to show concern or love for fellow human beings should only be when all lives are under threat?

The campaign for acceptance and fair treatment of BAME people serves as evidence of the need for what the apostle Paul described as “love without hypocrisy” and it is evident that the UK is yet to develop and practice that kind of love.

MPs often talk about “saving lives”, but behind their words is a hypocrisy because they have allowed our culture to become one in which lives are destroyed from smoking tobacco and shop shelves are filled with fresh packs sold and consumed without a care.

I argue that with such hypocritical love at the heart of government, no one is really safe, and a return to what we are accustomed to post-Covid-19 is a disappointing and predictable delusion.