I was thinking about all the heartbreaking stories this week about family members dying alone while Downing Street partied. It made me realise that the social hierarchy remains unchanged from Victorian times. Imagine being one of those families living with the pain, deep sorrow and guilt.

When my parents died in 2018 it was so difficult to describe the sadness but also the acceptance that their suffering was coming to an end. The whole family was allowed to be by their bedside. We could all say our final goodbyes. They both had funerals where friends and family could get together to celebrate their life.

To think that so many families had quick, cold empty send offs trying to follow rules whilst Downing Street and Whitehall was party central. Asking people to just move on shows a clear lack of value and understanding of the importance of family to ordinary people.

The message of Scrooge lying there cold and alone in Stave 4 was supposed to be a lesson to those who put the love of money above humanity which makes the events over the last two years more painful. They didn’t deserve to die under such harsh conditions. Healing from such grief is going to take time because their anger at such injustice is not going to bring them back.

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/a-christmas-carol-family-gcse-eng-lit-12240840