This is a minor example of the kind of short-circuit brain activity going on re: COVID and our collective responsibility to one another, but is anyone else a bit irked by those Tesco "no naughty list" adverts this year?

Not the concept itself, which is a sound one - it's been a shit year, give yourself a break, we're all suffering from a collective trauma and we should try to be kind to others and ourselves more than ever - but the specific examples of bad behaviour it uses.

Because they're all pandemic-related. Using it as an excuse to not do the tooth fairy with your kid, not washing your hands properly, hoarding toilet roll, etc. The idea of "hey, don't beat yourself up for nothing in 2020" is that it can only apply to things that *are* nothing.

Like, if the bad stuff you did is stuff that *made the situation worse* that's not something you should say is actually okay because of the situation.

Conceptually, it means that you shouldn't feel guilty for not visiting your nan because you might have killed her if you did, or for eating fattening comfort food when you live in this awful fat-shaming culture.

It's not for, like, coughing on a kid at a bus stop for a laugh.

One of the vignettes is Santa apologising for going on holiday, and it's supposed to be like, "oooh naughty!" wagging fingers and clucking tongues. People have *died* because of reckless traveling this year, Tesco. Don't excuse that shit.

We just saw a tweet about that article where the dude (assume it's a dude, it usually is) is saying people shouldn't shame him for going home for the holidays or whatever. And it's the same shit.

We won't shame someone for the things people usually get shamed for in better times, but you should absolutely be shamed for putting people in danger in a pandemic. You don't get a free pass on that shit because you're having a rough time of it.

We're *all* having a rough time, mate. You're just making it worse.