A Plague of Ignorance

Headmaster’s Routh Assembly Address
Monday 3rd February 2020

Excerpt from A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe

“It was about the beginning of September 1664, that I, among the rest of my neighbours, heard in ordinary discourse, that the Plague was returned again in Holland; for it had been very violent there. Particularly at Amsterdam and Rotterdam, in the Year 1663, when they say it was brought, some said from Italy, others from the Levant among some goods, which were brought home by their Turkey Fleet; others said it was brought from Candia; others from Cyprus. It mattered not, from whence it come; but all agreed, it was come into Holland again.

We had no such thing as printed newspapers in those days, to spread rumours and reports of things; and to improve them by the invention of men, as I have lived to see practised since. But such things as these were gathered from the letters of merchants, and others, who corresponded abroad, and from them was handed about by word of mouth only; so that things did not spread instantly over the whole Nation, as they do now.
But it seems that the Government had a true account of it, and several counsels were held about ways to prevent its coming over; but all was kept very private. Hence it was, that this rumour died off again, and people began to forget it, as a thing we were very little concerned in, and that we hoped was not true; till the latter end of November, or the beginning of December 1664, when two men, said to be French-men, died of the Plague.”

Good morning
That excerpt was written in the year 1722, which just goes to show that there is nothing new under the sun. Global pandemics have been around as long as there have been enough people to sneeze on each other. The Black Death, the Great Plague, Cholera, the 1918 Flu, Malaria, Ebola, the Zika virus, Bird Flu, SARs, now the Coronavirus. Different centuries, same results. Atishoo, atishoo, we all fall down.

The reading comes from a book by the great English writer, Daniel Defoe, called ‘A Journal of the Plague Year.’ No prizes for guessing what it is about. Not particularly well read, you are more likely to know Defoe as the author of ‘Robinson Crusoe.’ He was also a spy, as it happens, although that is completely irrelevant this morning.

A Journal of the Plague Year is set in London in 1665, the year that the Great Plague struck our capital city. It is a joyful little account, full of scabby old beggars, covered in weeping pustules and coughing up blood, while they drag wooden carts through the cobbled streets crying “Bring out your dead” so that victims of the unstoppable disease could be cast into open grave pits.

The story is told through the eyes of a man who had chosen to remain in London while most of the city’s inhabitants flee. Although it is fictional, Defoe based it on the account that his uncle told to him of what it was like to live amongst terror-stricken people, helplessly caught in a tragedy they could not comprehend. It details how the weak preyed on the dying while the strong tended to the sick. Describing the how the unscrupulous pillaged and partied while the faithful prayed. All the while, the good order of London gradually broke down, a great city brought low by a microscopic bug.

Ironically, although you just heard Defoe words that “We had no such thing as printed newspapers in those days, to spread rumours,” he wrote ‘A Journal of the Plague Year’ with the deliberate intention of scaring people. Nearly 50 years after the Great Plague hit London it was reappearing the Netherlands, but the Dutch didn’t seem too bothered. Defoe’s novel was intended as a warning to wake people up.

In 2020, we don’t actually need gruesome warnings about what pandemics can do. History has taught us of their threats and science has enlightened us as to the ways in which to confront them. There are a few subtle differences between the Great Plague of 1655 and the Coronavirus of 2020 of course. For a start, we now know that it’s microbes, not sorcerers and demons, that make us ill. We turn to doctors, not witches, for a vaccine. And thanks to public education, most people know how germs spread and therefore, how to significantly reduce their chances of contagion.

The very best thing that all of you can do to protect yourself against Coronavirus over the coming months is the exact same thing you are currently doing – I hope – to protect yourself from normal Winter colds or the flu. Regular hand-washing, coughing into the crook of your elbow, not sharing cups or drink bottles – it’s not hard. If you really want to take supplements to protect yourselves, the best stuff to try is called food. Eating a normal, balanced diet is the most effective way to bolster your body’s natural immunity.

So, if ordinary people know now all this, why then are we still being subjected to misinformation. And why do we believe it? Stories about people causing the virus by drinking bat soup. Or a shady biological weapons lab that an “unnamed source” claims just happens to be 30 miles away from where the outbreak started in Wuhan. Or Government conspiracies to secretly dispose of bodies in the middle of the night to hide the true death toll.

I suppose that those rumours, ridiculous though they are, at least emanate from China. How do we explain the hysteria that is bubbling up in Britain? What I heard on talkback radio last week really made me wonder.

I hasten to add that I don’t usually listen to talkback radio. It was just on while I was waiting in the Drycleaners, alright? However, if you ever want to plumb the depths of ignorance that exists in the world, talkback is a good place to start. No offence if anyone here is a regular caller.

The topic, as I listened without it appearing that I was listening, was the Coronavirus outbreak. A cab driver called in. I know he was a cab driver because he said, “Hi, I’m Reg and I’m a cab driver.” Good start. Concise. Factual. I was hooked.

But then he said, “I’m just sitting at the rank and I can see that next in line is a Chinese woman. Am I safe to pick her up or should I just go round?” Really Reg? There are 1.4 billion Chinese people in the world. Only 14,000 have caught the disease. That means you have 0.00001% chance that your prospective passenger may infect you. Given that you are picking her up in Hounslow, not Hubei, I’d say that your chances are even lower. Fortunately, my dry-cleaning arrived before I had to listen to someone ask whether you were likely to contract virus by reading a book on the Great Wall of China.

Daniel Defoe wanted to frighten the Dutch people because they didn’t understand how bad a fast-spreading disease could be. We do. We don’t need frightening. We don’t need rumours, speculation or conspiracy theories. And we certainly don’t need xenophobia or thinly veiled racism.

There are many amongst you here today who are from Wuhan and the Hubei Province, or China, Hong Kong and other affected regions in general. I know that you are concerned for your families, upset that you are unable to return home over the Half Term break. To you, I offer our support and reassurance. To the rest of the School I say, think how it would be if you were in the same situation. It is not “banter” to joke about their plight. Not funny to think like Reg, simplistically equating race and risk. That’s just insensitive. And ignorant.

Another great writer, Albert Camus, also wrote a book called ‘The Plague’ in which he said, “The evil in the world comes almost always from ignorance.” I know there is a huge amount of rumour and gossip and speculation and misinformation swirling around about this virus. I know the thought of getting sick and dying is scary. But you are intelligent, worldly people who are being taught to use your brains and your reason.
Precautions are being taken around the world and you, here in Britain, are highly unlikely to get sick. In fact, instead of ignorantly fearing anybody who looks Chinese, we should follow the lead of the Head of the World Health Organisation and thank China for what they have done to contain the virus so far. It is clear that if they hadn’t taken some extraordinary steps early on, it would have spread much faster around the globe. I can’t help wondering what would happen if the British Government tried to lock down and quarantine 50 million people virtually overnight.

The true risk for those of us here in Britain right now is not that we will catch the Coronavirus, but that we might succumb to a bad dose of ignorance. I urge you all to ward yourself against that by regularly dosing your brain with the facts.
 
Presentations
Fourth Form Drama 
My congratulations to the seventy of you who took part in last week’s Fourth Form House Drama competition and my thanks, on behalf of the whole audience, for a very enjoyable and highly professional evening’s entertainment. Great talent, teamwork, and technical stagecraft by all involved. The adjudicator was fulsome in his praise for all Houses and I would like to invite the award winners to come forward once more for our congratulations. They were:
Runner Up Best Actor – Fred Hanson
Best Actor – Lola Hill
Adjudicator’s Special Award (this year for most convincing accent work) – Walters House
And the two best plays, both involving a big cast, so I will invite the directors up on your behalf:
Runner Up Best Play – Elmshurst for “The 39 Steps” directed by Joseph Hong
Best Play – Wendron Gordon for “The Trial” directed by Oleksii Moskalevskyi


First Aid
I am pleased to invite the following students to receive their First Aid at Work Level 3 certificates
David Bucur, Maxwella Fakrogha, Grigory Kozhu Khov, Ashley Woo, Michelle Ma

Fencing
Our fencers competed well at the West Midlands Age Group Epee Championships. Laura Floricic fencing in her first ever competition, where she finished in 9th place. Edwin Hon and Artem Veprev both fenced in the tough Under 18 Boys’ event, with Edwin finishing in 8th place and Artem achieving a bronze medal. Tatiana Morikova also finished with a bronze medal in Under 18's Girls event. That means that Tatiana, Artem and Edwin have all qualified for the 2020 British Youth Championship National Finals held in Birmingham in May.
For now, though, I invite Tatiana and Artem forward to receive their medals.
  
Basketball
Congratulations to the U14 basketball team who won the County championships beating Blessed Edward Oldcorne School 15-6 in the final. 

Senior House Badminton
Boys competition:
Runners up: School house
Winners: Elmshurst

Girls competition:
Runners up: Webber
Winners: Housman Hall
I would like to invite the captains of Elmshurst and Housman Hall to receive their trophies.
 
Review
On Friday we were treated to a visit from the English Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kenneth Woods with pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, who also led a piano masterclass for three students during the afternoon. Evelyn Lau, Sophia Meadows and Vincent Li responded brilliantly to excellent advice from Isata, an experience that will last with them for some time. Many of our musicians then joined the Symphony Orchestra for their rehearsal, hearing some memorable works of Beethoven.

Sign Language
Last weekend 35 people visited School as part of a buddy programme organised by the national charity Sense. Our sign language students are involved in this programme, supporting other young people with multisensory impairments to access activities like pottery and swimming. In turn, they are developing skills in understanding disability and complex communication needs and I commend them for their hard work and empathy.


Badminton
Convincing wins from both the boys and girls teams against Malvern College.

Basketball
A somewhat closer victory by the 1st Basketball team who won 36-32 against Cheltenham College.

Cross Country
Well done to all our runners who represented the district in the county championships and those who ran in the school league match.

Football
The School won all 4 matches played against Cheltenham College, with the 1st XI winning 4-1. The U16 A team beat Abingdon School also 4-1.


Hockey
Unfortunately the Senior Boys’ lost their Independent Schools Cup Match against Abbotsholme School, drawing 2-2 but the losing on penalty flicks.

However, there were very pleasing results in the block fixture against Trent College with wins for the U14B, U14A,U15A,U16A,2ndXI and 1stXI.

Netball
Good results from the U14A, U14B and U15A teams who beat Solihull School in midweek matches. The School then won 8 out of the 10 matches played against Trent College.

Squash
Finally, the U18 Squash team beat Bloxham 5-2 in a very competitive fixture, there were some outstanding rallies and games played by all players.
 
Preview
On Tuesday we have the Fifth Form Parents Evening.

Our annual House Music competition takes place on Thursday, featuring over ninety of you, which is fantastic. There are two competitions, the ensemble at 4.00pm and the solos at 7.00pm, both in Routh Hall.

Every House has submitted an ensemble entry and there are 10 advanced and 6 intermediate finalists in the solo category. The adjudicator this year is Mr George Bevan, Director of Music from Monkton Combe School and he is very much looking forward to hearing your talents. It would be good to see as many as possible supporting your Houses. If any Fifth or Sixth form students would like to attend, please get permission from your Activities leader in advance.

Finally, we wish our physicists well as they travel to CERN on Friday.

Please stand as we say the Grace together.