By Sophia Lashmar, Year 12
A British LGB Student’s perspective on the state of her country.
If you grew up with your grandmother living nearby, then you may have been lucky enough to have your her take care of you on a day you were home sick from school, to look after you and help you get back on your feet. This favourite lovely old lady of yours would have checked your temperature, brought you cough syrup, and made sure you were warm enough. So much compassion! Like all nice old ladies with grit and humour, your grandmother might have secretly hidden a few bills in your backpack for you to find later and buy something tasty. She probably also baked your favourite treats or made you your favourite sandwiches. Such spirit! And, like all matriarchs since the dawn of time, she would have shared her nice old lady wisdom by reciting poems or telling stories or, like mine, reading favourite passages from Harry Potter.
The world’s most famous “nice old lady,” Queen Elizabeth, was a lot like your grandmother. She also embodied compassion, spirit, and leadership. Just over a year ago, we said a sad farewell to the Queen, but there’s another “nice old lady” you may know, called Britannia, and perhaps we don’t have to say goodbye to her. In fact, maybe we shouldn’t, since Britannia symbolises the very compassion, spirit, and leadership that our country is currently lacking. Nowadays, Britain falls short in the exact virtues symbolised by this great old lady, the Royal Yacht, Britannia.
Compassion, also known as caring for one another, is what the NHS is currently failing to do. Amid doctors and nurses going on strike left, right and centre, and half a million cancelled appointments this year alone, there seems to be little compassion left in British healthcare. The NHS, once hailed as a triumph of compassion and efficiency, is now in shambles, leaving many without the care they need. The Times has called it “a sorry state of affairs”. But what remains unclear is whether they’re referring just to the National Health Service or to the country as a whole.
Spirit is what unites a country as a nation and as people, or a family when they sit down together and share a meal. What is absolutely deplorable in today’s ‘United’ Kingdom is that millions of Britons can no longer afford to do just this, to enjoy a meal together, even if it is just a basic bacon butty. Since Britannia’s ‘glory days’ of exploration and trade, regular Britons cannot enjoy such simple staples as bread, bacon and cheese, which cost 30% more than they did this time last year. While the dispirited people shiver in their unheated homes, the cost of living crisis is yet another nail in Britannia’s coffin.
Wisdom is what we all wish No.10 could display instead of endless political incompetence and bureaucratic nonsense. Given our parade of 4 Prime Ministers in the past 7 years, we nothing to show for all of the upheaval except for disappointments, public embarrassment and chaos. From David Cameron’s disastrous Brexit referendum, to Boris Johnson’s blatant lawbreaking, followed by a head of lettuce outlasting Liz Truss, Britain has clearly hit rock bottom.
When can British people be proud of their country? That day has yet to come. Now that a truly lovely old lady, Queen Elizabeth II is gone, we are a people left without leadership, and the poor Queen must be turning in her grave as she looks upon our nation.
