Amid the gloom, shards of light shine bright. The nurses, doctors and care workers going to extraordinary lengths to treat the ill and dying. The nonagenarians lapping gardens and climbing stairs to raise money, the rainbows in windows and Thursday night claps. 

All this raw humanity is precipitating talk of the kinder society many say they want on the other side of the pandemic, one that recognises - financially and in terms of dignity and status - the part played by so-called unskilled (read low-paid) workers in keeping society going. 

A kinder society is certainly a fine aspiration. So is a fairer, more equitable one. But if either is to be even attempted, never mind achieved, we’re going to have to change drastically - politically, economically and psychologically. And we’re going to have to learn lessons from the past.

After all, the last big crisis we faced, the financial meltdown of 2008, led to a hardening of attitudes that resulted in Brexit and Trump. When coronavirus hit we were only beginning to get a handle on the complex reasons people supported either of these two abominations, why electorates around the world are voting for populist leaders and causes in their droves. 

My worry is that the fear, poverty and austerity that fed Brexit and Trump will go into overdrive during and after coronavirus, fuelled by even bigger lashings of all three. Look at the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis. While bankers and their shamed institutions got off scot-free and were bailed out by taxpayers, the super-wealthy made a killing off the back of it and were allowed, even encouraged, to avoid taxes. Ordinary folk took the hit, with Tory chancellors repeating the mantra that there was no option but to endure the pain. Jobs were lost. Wages were frozen, working conditions obliterated, pensions and savings wiped out. Families were torn apart. Homes lost. People killed themselves. 

READ MORE: Marianne Taylor: Patel and Hancock should stop their insults and tell us the truth

The gap between the haves and have-nots grew exponentially as did suspicion between the groups. 

Austerity was used ideologically. The lifeline public services we rely on were stripped of funding and politically expedient bogeymen created to explain the decline: immigrants, refugees, the undeserving poor. 

Both Brexit and Trump succeeded because they tapped into the blame culture that flourishes when people lose hope. Populist slogans give desperate people something to hope for.  

The coronavirus pandemic is going to draw a new and more prominent line between haves and have-nots. And it’s going to take more than kindness to heal such a divide and prevent an even more dangerous descent into populism, one that could define us for decades to come.

How can we avoid this? Honestly, I don’t know. But what we certainly must not do is repeat the mistake of having the poor and just-managing take on the burden yet again. The short-term packages of help created so far by the UK government suggest Boris Johnson and his ministers are willing to come up with new and flexible policies to keep the economy going. But as delays and the number of people, businesses and sectors slipping through the cracks highlight, much more targeted support is needed in the short, medium and long-term if we are all to be in this together, the new ministerial mantra.

Radical action is needed to keep the population financially and psychologically supported, and it’s hard to see how the ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’, ‘skilled’ and ‘unskilled’ narratives of only a few short months ago will be acceptable to the electorate now. Surely we’re looking at big tax hikes for the wealthy and super-rich to keep public services afloat.

READ MORE: Mark Smith: Am I turning into a leftie? The radical ideas Covid is forcing people like me to consider 

Even a Conservative government may be unable to avoid such a necessary move, and it will be interesting to guage public reaction if and when wealthy celebrities and businesspeople threaten to move abroad when it happens. Previously unthinkable ideas such as the universal basic income may also find their way on to the agenda.

After the Second World War we rewarded the stoicism and sacrifice of the nation with the health service that is working so admirably now to get us through the biggest crisis the country has faced in generations. This is the type the visionary thinking required to prevent division and help us feel part of something bigger. Maybe even make us kinder. Does Mr Johnson and his government have the talent and vision to think in such terms? We’re about to find out. 

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