April « 2020 « John Harris

Archive for April, 2020

Coronavirus has deepened prejudice against older people | John Harris

Sunday, April 26th, 2020

We should worry about generational divisions getting even worse – but it is not too late to shift attitudes toward our elders

Last week, I spoke to a man called Richard Kempner about the recent death of his mother, Sheila. It was a difficult and impossibly moving conversation, made all the more affecting by the fact that the previous night he had forwarded me photographs and videos of her that went back nearly 30 years.

On Easter Saturday, she died, aged 86, in the care home where she had lived since late last year. For 20 years she had suffered from an increasingly debilitating immune condition – but after she moved in, her health had taken a noticeable upswing. Then, for the three weeks prior to her death, lockdown meant that she could not see any visitors and remained confined to her room. Despite these precautions, her family were then told that a case of Covid-19 had possibly “impacted” the care home.

Earlier this month, Robert Peston called people who live in some care homes ‘inmates’, which is quite a Freudian slip

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Life in Lockdown: from birth to death in a time of danger – video

Saturday, April 25th, 2020

With mortality suddenly confronting all of us, Anywhere But Westminster looks at how the coronavirus crisis is hitting those most vulnerable to the disease. While the government stands accused of failing to protect them, people in at-risk categories are taking matters into their own hands.

Music from The General by Haiku Salut (Twitter – @Haikusalut)
Thanks to National Voices

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Music is a balm right now. But there’s little comfort for musicians | John Harris

Monday, April 20th, 2020

Deprived of income from live concerts by Covid-19, musicians and venues are in a fight for survival. Thankfully, fans can help

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For the last few weeks a nightly musical ritual has taken hold of a small but growing corner of Twitter. Thanks to Tim Burgess, singer with the longstanding British group the Charlatans, each evening at an appointed time, anyone who fancies participating puts on a particular album – and, as it plays, posts their thoughts with the hashtag #timstwitterlisteningparty. Better still, musicians who made the tracks often join in, adding their insights and recollections.

I have taken part in two events far – for the Flaming Lips’ 1999 masterpiece The Soft Bulletin and Our Favourite Shop, the Style Council’s evocation of Britain in the Thatcher years, released in 1985. Music of any kind is usually life-affirming: talking and thinking about it often has the same effect. This is a big part of how many of us are getting through the crisis. Moreover, as the grim effects of the outbreak become clearer by the day, what we are listening to offers a comforting reminder of the world we suddenly left behind mere weeks ago.

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