REMEMBER the iconic political propaganda poster from World War One, titled "Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?"

Clever semiotics were used in the poster to highlight a curious little girl on her dad’s knee staring into a pair of deeply uncomfortable eyes.

The War Office, of course, was attempting to demand commitment, implying: "When this is all over, it’s your conscience that will be on the firing line."

Now, we’re constantly reminded we’re at war again. Not just a war with a virus, we’re also entering into a class war.

This virus is highlighting the massive disparities in our economic systems. And we are reminded that Covid-19 was spread internationally by the easy-travelling, ski-resort wealthy, in Europe and the US. (In Argentina the virus is known as La Peste de Los Chetos; the plague of the snobs.)

What’s become obvious in the past two weeks is that our opinions of others, particularly the rich, famous and powerful, will be framed by their behaviour in this new war against a pandemic.

What’s clear is that if those with cash continue to behave in a crass, disconnected manner, they will become history.

Ricky Gervais reflected public opinion yesterday when he complained of the celebrities who live in large mansions and whine about isolation.

Gervais believes healthcare workers, such as nurses and porters, should be given more recognition then added: “I see someone complaining about being in a mansion with a swimming pool. And, you know, honestly, I just don’t want to hear it.”

Nor do most of us. The father in the Great War poster is being depicted as a man of shame because he decided not to enlist and fight for his country.

The likes of singer Sam Smith who whine about being stuck in a multi-roomed mansion are examples of those who have yet to enlist with reality.

The crassness of the utterly disconnected Madonna (selfied recently in a bath of rose petals saying the virus “is a great equaliser" could see her album sales crash and that’s because we wonder how she can watch pictures of bodies in New York State being dropped into a mass grave, or news reports of dying doctors and nurses and bus drivers – and still remain entirely self-absorbed?

Our top footballers, too, are facing a kicking. We have 12,000 people in Britain dead and it beggars belief that those who are being paid £300k a week refuse to take a pay cut.

Yes, pundit Gary Lineker is right when he says: "Why not call on all the wealthy to try and help if they possibly can rather than just pick on footballers?"

But why not have footballers lead by example, Gary? And how much of your £2m a year – plus crisp earnings – are you offering up to food banks?

Not all footballers face opprobrium, however. Heroes have emerged such as Newcastle United youngster Matty Longstaff who has given 30 per cent of his £800 a week salary to the NHS.

And Rangers’ so-called bad boy Alfredo Morelos, who is now working in Columbia delivering food parcels to the poor and giving up a sizeable amount of his earnings.

But in the future, it will be hard not to see celebrities through their corona response. It will be hard not to think of the Beckhams – happy to post social media pics from their beautiful Cotswold home – without thinking: "What I really want to know is how much you are kicking in the direction of vaccine initiatives or PPE?"

If it’s nothing, I will be angry for ever.

The War Office was morally wrong in many ways: it demanded men be led to slaughter by those who placed a low value on human life. And fathers being dead means quizzical daughters have an altogether different set of questions to ask.

But the poster was successful in asking broader questions, about togetherness, about shared responsibility.

And the coronavirus is certainly making us ask who our heroes are right now, people we can look up to. There are some obvious ones: the health and care workers, those who work in the trenches of public service. At a political level there’s the commanding, compassionate Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand and Andrew Cuomo in New York.

Let’s hope the likes of Sam Smith and Gary Lineker and his mates will be able to hold their heads up when the kids start asking the questions.

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