FINANCIAL TIMES: Gary Younge: What, precisely, are we making noise for?

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The writer is professor of sociology at Manchester university Every Thursday night at home in London, around 7.55pm, it’s the same. I tell myself not to overthink it. I go to the kitchen cupboard, pull out a saucepan and a wooden spoon, take them to the front door. Then I wait until the clock strikes eight, step out and start whacking the pan. My wife claps beside me. Occasionally the kids join in. The street comes out; people I haven’t seen since last week. My daughter’s piano teacher across the road; the downstairs neighbour. We wave, chat, clap and cheer for the workers in the National Health Service who are fighting Covid-19 on our behalf. Then we go back inside. And I ask myself: “What, precisely, was that about?”