These are not normal times, that much is for sure. And in these days of self-isolation Ralph Mctell has asked his listeners to consider the plight of those who can’t self-isolate: how do you stay at home when you have no home? It’s prompted the folk singer-songwriter to do what he has always refused to do before – add a new verse to ‘Streets of London.‘
You can hear him discuss the decision, and sing the new verse, on the BBC here. The spur is clear though, as McTell says “People often say they hate the idea of homelessness” and whilst he doesn’t have a solution he does suggest “kindness is all we can offer to each other, and by doing so offer some sort of support.” Is it now still a radical thought – suggesting that when we get to the other side of this we decide to carry on supporting the NHS, we decide to improve Social Care, and we stop wringing our individually helpless hands and do something about poverty, inequality and homelessness in particular? Not so very radical after all, perhaps.
