It seems to me to be a very simple equation : if you are fortunate to be able to work safely from home and to continue to draw your full salary at the same time, then not only should you NOT be insisting that your cleaner comes to your house, but you should also be making damn sure to pay them in full as if they WERE attending as before. I’ve tried really hard to see it from the point of view of the person who was insisting that that it was necessary work that justified the risks to both the cleaner and the occupants of the house, but I have been unable to. Yesterday’s spat between columnists from The Times and The Guardian over whether or not it is appropriate to be insisting on your cleaner coming to your home during the crisis (when there is no medical or other reason for you to need that help) was a good example. Sadly, it’s also true that the current situation has brought out the worst in some people. It doesn’t make it any easier to bear though. It will pass, and we know that the restrictions are a necessary precaution to prevent the spread of the virus and to protect those who are especially vulnerable to it. We are literally living in fragments – disconnected islands of activity. Live in fragments no longer.” Lockdown has been marked by disconnection : social distancing means that we now routinely move away from people outside our household as we take advantage of our sanctioned daily exercise we move in 2 metre exclusion zones as we complete the weekly shop communication with friends and family is mediated through mobile telephones, FaceTime, Zoom or those agonising conversations for six feet away when all you really want to do is give them a hug, shake hands, sit down together and share a cup of tea. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. The full quote is perhaps even more poignant : “Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon.
The quote from E.M Forster’s novel Howards’ End has taken on new meaning in the past eight weeks.
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