The covid 19 crisis has been revealing of human nature. On the one hand, have been those who abdicating independent judgement and common sense solutions have sought government guidance on the minutiae of living. An example was a mother who contacted a BBC radio programme to ask whether she should permit her randy teenage daughter connubial visits from her boyfriend during lockdown.
Others have shown a complete disregard of government guidelines. In this group are a phalanx of Pakistani Sandwell Labour councillors. This distinguished group of idiots; Zahir Hussain, Mustaq Hussain, Zahmir Ahmed, Mohammed Rouf and Ahmed Bostan attended an event in a Birmingham restaurant at which social distancing was disregarded. Evidence of this was provided by a group photograph of the event in which the five were shown with other attenders.
Once the photo hit the media the fab five issued a joint explanatory statement.
They stressed the meeting was no ordinary junket. It was an event “organised by a voluntary group.. ..to discuss urgent community issues” Since all but one of the councillors represent wards in the Smethwick area which has seen a spike in the number of Covid 19 cases, the urgent issues must have been the spread of the virus or its incidence among British ethnic minority groups.
All the councillors were keen to stress that they “attended in our personnel capacities as members of the local Pakistani community” This means that they were not acting as Sandwell councillors and so their conduct was not subject to council disciplinary measures. Their concern to make this point seems not to have been mirrored by an anxiety to insist on social distancing.
But it was not their fault; it never is.. “We were assured by the organisers social distancing would be observed” It must have been the doctored samosas which rooted them to the spot and the hypnotic skills of the photographer urging them to “Grin and move in closer” which caused them not to make an excuse and leave but to remain in defiance of social distancing rules.
All have tendered “profuse apologies … to the people of Sandwell” No doubt they regret detection. The people of Sandwell need to consider whether such idiots should represent them.
