Bill Anderson – Watching the grass grow

I haven’t been following with any great interest the Covid enquiries currently taking place in the UK. I have come to assume that it stands for Covering Over Vapid Idiotic Discussions.

To be honest, I wouldn’t like all my Whatsapp messages to be made public, especially some that I might have sent in a tantrum, or to a friend after a couple of glasses of wine. But then again, I am not a national politician making decisions that will affect the economic well-being of the country, the safety of millions of families, the development of children, and so on.

I am always the optimist, and I, unlike many people I know, thought that this might get behind the scenes of the often poor decision making processes that that was the whole pandemic response. How wrong I was.  Whatever messages seem to be left in cyber space do little more than question the maturity and capacity of those holding the reins during this time. We already know that, at least in the UK, they didn’t even follow their own guidelines for dealing with this, so the enquiry has not brought to light any mind blowing revelations.

However, disclosures of top politicians allegedly making comments like “Just let people die” whether these are private conversations or semiofficial ones moves the conversation from ‘idiotic’ to ‘disturbing’. It’s like making jokes about pedophilia: it is bad taste whatever the context.

I wonder how those directly affected by the whole thing either by loss of loved ones or loss of their businesses, homes and mental health, and the subsequent damage from the treatment, feel about the enquiry. I suspect they are not  put at ease.

Although not designed for this specific purpose, there is a degree of entertainment value at watching the great and the good squirm in their seats when asked to explain ‘Why?’ It is amazing how Covid has created collective and selective amnesia among the big players. ‘I don’t recall,’ is clearly a synonym for ‘I don’t want to tell you because it will make me look bad.’ The entertainment value more or less stops there. Beyond that, the enquiry is as interesting as watching grass grow.

There is another component which could be classed as educational, even though  learning how to do this is not an evolutionary advantage for the human race. That is, how to look sincere and keep a straight face while clearly lying through their teeth, albeit by omission and not by commission. My poker face directly resulted in losing all of my 20 matchsticks in game with my son. These guys and gals are past masters at the poker face. I still think I’d rather be an open book with a face and body language that gives me away every time. I prefer the truth even when it works to my disadvantage.

Can’t say I will be following the rest of this with great interest. Life is too short, and watching the grass grow has suddenly captured my attention.