The Moggcast Returns: "Wash your hands for one verse of the National Anthem" – "we can all play our part" against Coronavirus. | Conservative Home
Jacob Rees-Mogg, MP for North East Somerset in the British Parliament, currently serving as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council, and a noted conservative voice in Britain, gives his views on a number of issues, including preventing the spread of coronavirus.
I joke that Jacob Rees-Mogg is my "spirit animal." I like the man very much: his style, his wit and intelligence, his dry and often self-deprecating sense of humour. He is a classic Brit of the old school, both thoroughly entertaining and highly informative to listen to; and this "Moggcast," the first such fortnightly podcast since the dramatic British elections last Autumn, is no exception to that rule!
Among his comments is the common-sense advice, in helping to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19, which, sadly, is approaching pandemic status, if indeed it is not already there): to use a tissue when coughing or sneezing, "and toss it in the bin" after, and to wash one's hands for the length of time it takes to sing one verse of the (British) National Anthem.
(Washing one's hands with soap, and doing so for a sufficient length of time – 20-30 seconds – can actually kill the virus, which is surrounded by a layer of fatty tissue, which soap dissolves.)
He does suggest that one does so "quietly... otherwise I think gentlemen's toilets might get a bit noisy." A fine example of that wry sense of humour I mentioned above! In any case, that advice sparked several comments, of which my favorite (only very lightly edited) was
God save our gracious Queen, Let’s keep our pawses clean, God save the Queen! Rub rub rub rub rub rub, Scrub scrub scrub scrub scrub scrub, Wash hands, you dirty grub! God save the Queen!
I do love it.
Indeed, I think this may become my standard hand-washing theme song!
And after Her Majesty, The Queen, may God bless Jacob Rees Mogg! He's young enough that he may yet be Prime Minister one day. I hope he is, and that I live to see it!