I really like a public occasion. My parents always dressed in their "good clothes" - not their very best that would have been ostentatious - to go out and vote together. For a moment they were not just mum and dad but public citizens.
I remembered them voting together when I went proudly to the Peckwater Centre to get my first dose of the Covid-19 jab.
Although it was only the Peckwater, where I have been a million times, it felt like I was exercising a public duty and enjoying a public right, protection for myself. And it seemed others felt the same. We were the citizens of Kentish Town and beyond coming together, in every sort of convenience, cars, bicycles and buggies, sometimes with a little help from sons and daughters, carers and friends, to do the right thing.
We were greeted by wonderful volunteers - volunteer doctors and nurses and their friends and partners, volunteers from the excellent Kentish Town Community Centre, many people I know in the local community who had just stepped up to help. Something good was happening and people, working together, were making it happen.
The process itself was quick and painless. Some details were taken and I had the opportunity to ask questions. We had a short wait in socially distanced chairs, we had the jab and then 15 minutes to wait to see that there was no adverse reaction.
The vaccination programme isn’t just the way finally to beat the virus, it is a demonstration of the complex network of relationships, of social collaboration and investment that has produced the vaccine and delivered it to our arms.
The pandemic has revealed dreadful divisions and has increased existing inequalities in our society and many families are being driven into poverty. We must campaign to keep the £20 uplift for universal credit, for access for every child to remote learning, but please, do the things that positively represents our society at its best. Get your Covid-19 Jab when you get the call and keep following the rules to protect yourself and those around you.
And yes many people did wear their good clothes and I am reliably informed that the over 80s were the best dressed of all!
- Councillor Angela Mason is cabinet member for best start for children and families at Camden Council.
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