In the news

Don't get me wrong, it's quite amazing that a 99-year old traipsed around his garden to raise so much money for the NHS. Puzzled as to why alongside being held up as a modern hero, most people aren't really bothering to ask why Tom Moore felt he had to raise money for the NHS in the first place.

If the only way to help healthcare workers out was/is something like this, there's something seriously wrong.

I'm not sure how to respond till I know how Rhubarb The Cat feels.

If only the billions that went to connected buddies got as much coverage as this.

Crumbled.

Regardless of how much was raised he still walked the same distance

If he'd not been ex-Military his fund raising efforts would have at most been the 'And finally' section on his regional news programme

But of course British media fetishism for military X massive diversionary tactics by this shit show of a Government 😑

I'm wondering what sort of fundraising shift the average person would have to put in to get similar acolades. Raise enough to pay off the national debt maybe? And how though? A symbolic whilst challenging but achievable feat of some sorts. Any ideas?

These people are hardly 'average' but, judging by the amounts they raised, they'd probs have to walk to the moon and back

https://www.google.com/amp/s/metro.co.uk/2020/04/21/disabled-boy-6-walks-10-metres-day-raise-money-nhs-inspired-captain-tom-12585994/amp/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8395071/amp/Boy-five-legs-amputated-raises-145-000-NHS-Captain-Tom-Moore-inspired-him.html
Apols (obvs) for link to Daily Nazi

Boy-five-legs-amputated

What an unlucky kid.

unlucky

Aint that the mot juste?

Comparing the two, it's interesting what the general public finds most inspirational

Not that I don't agree with the second paragraph, I reckon the first bit was as much about his age, and his age pretty much guaranteed being ex military.

I think that's more a function of media coverage. Hard to find inspiration if you never hear about something.

Anyone have any reason behind the constant sirens/ helicopter over Putney for the past 1-2hrs?

https://twitter.com/MPSKingston/status/1169539684017594368

(No, I don't know the real answer...)

Very interesting, I only clicked one link for obvs reasons. News of neither of these reached me at the time.

What'd be the effort required for an ordinary 40+yr old of low prior achievement and reasonable fitness?

Gotta be something that makes folks dig deep to hit £30million in only a few weeks.

I'm pretty sure there's nothing that'd interest the world enough.

58 year old running 32 marathons in 31 days... Raises £200k

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/entertainment-arts-55886162

Someone (Antony Belvoir?) mentioned on Today this morning that Cap'n Tom embodied all the traits that the English like to feel they are imbued with. (He didn't actually say it like that). It struck me that subliminally people latched onto a bona fide WW2 "hero" because it harked back to a time when the English (particularly) had stiff-upper-lips and blitz-spirit, something we've singularly failed to display during the pandemic. Or, if we have, it's been massively inappropriate; VE-Day conga, anyone?
Or I've completely misread the situation and we just like a geezer with a chest full of medals and a beret showing a bit of pluck

Poor kid, they took off all five? Couldn’t he have been left with a couple?

blitz-spirit, something we've singularly failed to display during the pandemic

I know we like to talk ourselves down, but I feel this is a bit harsh. I think millions of people are displaying - if not "blitz spirit" then resilience and forbearance and community-mindedness (sure there's a better word for that)

Blitz spirit was a thing to some extent but history has a revisionist view of how people behaved doing the war. Both in terms of obeying and abiding the rules and the fact that the mental health toll was basically just ignored.

The idea that there was some kind of national spirit that dragged us through the war is basically a myth. Sure, people looked out for each other in amazing ways but a lot of it was simply striving to survive. People sufferered. They were scared. People lied,cheated and stole to survive. They set each other up and grassed each other up. There are even accounts of downed German pilots being beaten to death in the streets of London.

Blitz spirit was the desire to survive. It wasn't always stiff upper lip and helping your neighbours.

I know we like to talk ourselves down, but I feel this is a bit harsh. I think millions of people are displaying - if not "blitz spirit" then resilience and forbearance and community-mindedness (sure there's a better word for that)

In my eyes blitz spirit is all the little things we do to get through lockdown. That might mean selfish things or community minded things.

I spent a long time over the years talking to my grandfather about living through both world wars. His overall feeling that for him it was a bit of an adventure as he was rarely in any great danger (military police and anti-aircraft when serving in the army) but that overall, nobody escaped the war without any emotional fallout be it slight or severe as living under those conditions for so long is untenable no matter who you are.

He said people polished the memory as nobody really wants to spend their time reliving the those years or fighting the battles again. Sort of the type 2 fun sort of experience. My mum's family talked about my great grandfather being blown into tiny pieces whilst picking veg by an American bomb with great humour but I can't imagine it was even remotely amusing at the time or for several years afterwards but you've got to rationalise it.

I honestly feel we'll look back at COVID in 30 years time with a similar feeling; that some of the "good" experiences will be the collective memory and the bad ones will be reworked so they're more palatable. I don't think it's a propaganda thing alone, I think it's just how people cope/rationalise.

Interesting article in Wired... A 25-Year-Old Bet Comes Due: Has Tech Destroyed Society?

So on December 31, Patrick declared Kelly the winner in an email to the bettors. “But it’s a squeaker and not much cause for celebration,” he concluded.

It’s also not terribly satisfying. Because Kelly’s upbeat views seem to have crossed the finish line as Sale’s apocalyptic horsemen were closing fast, 2020 offered no clear verdict as to civilization’s fate—or where we will be in the next 25 years.

I don't think it's a propaganda thing alone, I think it's just how people cope/rationalise.

Perfectly said IMHO

Good article

This is the Long Bets site mentioned in the above