Punch and Judy

This title brings back memories of seaside holidays where children would start to gather in the 30 minutes leading up to the afternoon show. Then great excitement would spill over into enthusiastic support for the extreme violence meted out by PC Plod on the hapless villain. With hindsight it was the perfect preparation for acceptance of policing in the UK, and around the world, today. But the protagonists have morphed from the Dixon of Dock Green Peace Constable type to the stab vested, taser wielding Policy Enforcement Officers of today. Whereas we learned from our earliest days that policemen protected the community, today policemen protect the government. All sense of fair play seems to have been trained out of them along with the ability to think for themselves.

Similarly the statement ‘Vaccines are Safe and Effective’ has been repeated constantly for over four decades. After hearing it a thousand times it must be true – right? Parents everywhere want to do the best for their children and have unquestioningly brought their infants for their paediatric shots. Doctor knows best and she’s trained to know these things – right? Here there’s no need for parents to think for themselves and any attempt to do so marks them out as oddballs spreading misinformation. After over 50 years of preparation along comes a new technology that breaks the mould in that it neither prevents recipients from catching the disease nor stops them from spreading it. Still, it’s given a name that means it’s Safe and Effective, so it must be – right? Month after month the number of injuries escalates and even those suffering are banned from sharing their stories on social media support groups. The fact that a 30 year old in the prime of life developed uncontrollable tremors within 48 hours or a 15 year old develops life-threatening myocarditis or a professional athlete drops dead on the pitch is downplayed by the introduction of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome. Everyone knows it’s normal for the young to suddenly drop dead – right?               No, Wrong!

Satirists everywhere are drooling as much as the Spitting Image puppets of long ago. Back in the day they lampooned Reagan with the weekly update of ‘The President’s brain is missing’. It prepared them perfectly for Biden’s America in 2022. Next summer, if we’re allowed onto the beach to make some immune enhancing Vitamin D, we could be treated to an updated P&J show where militarised enforcement officers smash the eggheads of Vallance, Whitty and Javid. However entertaining it might be to see justice meted out with extreme prejudice it serves only to perpetuate the cycle of violence that could lock another generation into hatred and ignorance. An alternative is to step away from the fray altogether and begin the process of regeneration, as we build the future we want – free of the parasitic corporations aiming to destroy us. Instead boys and girls might just paddle in the shallows collecting crabs and building castles while the P&J glove puppeteer organises a talent show. After all, there’s no show without Punch.