Coronavirus: Selfish supermarket panic buyers betray Blitz spirit – Andrew Vine

Far from people thinking of others and only buying what they need, the trolleys were being piled high with anything they could get their hands on, with shoppers if not elbowing others out of the way, certainly displaying a deplorable lack of courtesy.

And the crowds which packed into the Dales, on to seafronts and every beauty spot in Britain in defiance of advice to keep a safe distance were testament to a wilful refusal to consider the welfare of others.

This isn’t the picture we should be seeing of Britain pulling together to do everything possible to minimise the impact of coronavirus.

Maybe the most potent illustration of that was the heart-rending video posted by a York nurse last week crying in frustration at finding shelves stripped bare when she needed to buy food at 
the end of a 48-hour shift caring for the sick.

Her tears should have caused uneasy consciences for some of the hard-faced panic-buyers I’ve seen recently, grimly manhandling groceries and toiletries into their trolleys on a scale they can’t possibly need. But I wouldn’t bet on them having a second thought.

It really shouldn’t be necessary for shops to set aside slots for NHS and emergency services staff so that they have a chance of buying food, nor to dedicate hours to older customers to spare them a scrum for toilet rolls or handwash.

And until the Government ordered the closure of pubs and restaurants, vast numbers of people were blithely ignoring advice to stay away from them to help prevent the spread of the virus.

At a time when selflessness should be the order of the day, selfishness still holds sway for many.

Disgracefully, what’s on display from too many people in the midst of this national emergency is an “I’m-alright-Jack” attitude. As long as their freezers and cupboards are kept stuffed to bursting, it’s to hell with everyone else.

Boris Johnson and the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, have been right to evoke the imagery and language of wartime in the escalating measures being taken to deal with the health emergency and the economic crisis it has caused.

Such comparisons are usually overblown, but not this time, with deaths mounting and people facing ruin or even the loss of their homes.

The calls for national solidarity in fighting a threat to everyone in the country are entirely appropriate. Every single one of us has a part to play in beating this most insidious of enemies.

Evoking the Blitz spirit, with people looking out for each other and drawing strength to endure whatever lies ahead from knowing they have the support of everybody around them, is exactly what our country needs.

But I’m not convinced that message is being embraced anything like as wholeheartedly as it should be. For every person looking out for a vulnerable relative or neighbour, there’s another intent on snatching the last packet of pasta, or making the Dales as busy as a bank holiday in normal times.

This is underlined by the posts on an online neighbourhood forum where I live. There are 500-plus of us on it, and the number of offers to pick up shopping for elderly people self-isolating at home is truly heartening.

There are other offers too, to regularly call or Skype those stuck in their houses, to help alleviate boredom and stave off any sense of isolation or loneliness. If 
it’s possible to have safe contact with people, such as by visiting for a chat and keeping a distance at the end of a driveway or garden, then that will happen too. These are small acts that require little effort, but in the context of the times we’re living through, they assume a new importance.

But there are also posts expressing frustration at not being able to pick up the basic goods that people need 
because of shortages caused by irresponsible customers and tales of a lack of respect shown to older people who have ventured out to do their own shopping, even though they ought to be staying at home.

We fondly imagine that the idea of a Blitz spirit is so deeply ingrained in our national consciousness that people instinctively behave at their best when times are tough, as they are now, coming together so that we all pull through.

What we’re seeing instead is that there are substantial numbers among us who don’t do that, display little sense of the collective good, and instead of thinking of others are entirely motivated by self-interest.

That’s an uncomfortable thought, but it makes it more necessary than ever that everyone who does care for others, the neighbourhoods around them, and the country as a whole redoubles their efforts to do the right thing.