Political column – March 28

"In the face of the nasty enemy, downhearted Britons have flocked to the shops and cleared the shelves.

"Not for them self sacrifice. In a display of mass panic up and down the land they have grabbed what they can and stuff the rest, the elderly, the sick, the vulnerable.

"In unprepared hospitals overworked and demoralised staff have wondered whether they can meet the challenge and have taken to social media to tell the nation that they lack both weapons and defences.

"As the devastating death toll rises, the Leader of the Opposition, the Right Honourable Jeremy Corbyn, in an address to the nation on Sky News, crushed all hope and in a message of gloom and despondency blamed it on a decade of Tory cuts and underfunding in the National Health Service, which he nevertheless described as absolutely splendid and wonderful.

"And with months more of this fight for survival in prospect, the tremulous message from Britons is: We Can't Take It!"

It's still early days. But how will future historians judge the response of Britons to the current crisis?

The panic buying was shameful, and yet more so as we were shown up by the French and the Italians. So bang go those tired national stereotypes which had their origins in 1940.

In 2020 it seems it is the French and the Italians who can teach we Brits a thing or two about collective resolution, discipline, and self sacrifice for the greater good.

We like to think that Captain Mainwaring epitomises the dogged and defiant British spirit. But maybe we have become a nation of Walkers.

Yet it is not too late, and there have been signs of hope. The past few days have given another perspective.

There has been an overwhelming response to the plea for volunteers to help during the crisis, and the British observance of the lockdown has been good, especially in the light of the tempting sunny weather.

Our town centres and parks have been eerily quiet, something I have witnessed for myself, being allowed as a journalist to get out to see such things.

Nevertheless there are some aspects which have been depressing, one of the biggest being a tendency to see the coronavirus outbreak largely as something for the government to do something about.

Obviously it is something for the government to do something about. But a pandemic has no politics, and no borders of nationhood, class, or race.

It is an indiscriminate threat to communities and individuals. Which means that it is something for communities and individuals to do something about. And, while the government should be held to account for its actions and inactions, nothing should absolve ourselves from our personal and individual responsibilities.

We are learning something about ourselves and the marking of this particular exam will come later.

What we can say is that those who predicted that this year the economy would go off a cliff, flights would be grounded, and there would be medical shortages, have been proven right, albeit in an entirely different context to that which they expected.

...........

When my mum died, which was years ago now, one of her carers gave me a hug. She hugged my brothers too.

We were bemused and, so far as the circumstances allowed, amused.

That's because we were brought up in days when nobody hugged, except perhaps folk from foreign lands where things were done differently. Hugging was an un-British invasion of personal space.

Hugging was showy, and over the top. It might even be American.

Then Britain began to change, and more and more Britons began to hug. So to an extent I fell awkwardly into line. Hugging now seemed polite, and being polite is surely a desirable characteristic of being British.

Another desirable characteristic is keeping up with the times, as the penalty for failing to do so might involve a spell in jail.

I started reading of cases in which people who had hugged others without asking permission first were being accused of assault. An innocent act in the past had become a sinister act in the present.

A dilemma arose. But realistically relatives or close friends aren't going to report you to the Old Bill if you greet them with a hug.

Because of coronavirus, hugging is now definitely out. Whether it will return in due course, who knows?

For the moment though, there is a clear path in this minefield of manners.

..............

As the television clock struck eight on Thursday, we went to our door to clap, and found that lots of others in our street were clapping too.

As with the hugging issue, I felt a little awkward about such a public gesture, especially as I was in my dressing gown. And as my wife works in the NHS, albeit not in a front line role, it seemed a bit odd as I don't clap her at home.

Another reason it was awkward was that one of our dogs, which is psychopathically social, immediately rushed out of the door and darted into a neighbour's house and had to be winkled out.

I've made comparisons to 1940. That was a time when the nation was saved by The Few (and the existence of the Royal Navy).

The National Health Service is the UK's largest employer. Today we pay tribute to The Many who are risking their lives to stand between us and disaster.