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Handclap for heroes - Richly deserved applause or virtue signalling on a grand scale?

Do public gestures of support for frontline workers really make a difference or are they more about than the people we're applauding?

This week brought to an end the weekly handclap for heroes - that point, at eight o'clock on Thursday nights when people emerged from their homes to applaud those on the front line in the pandemic - the NHS staff, the retail workers, the delivery drivers and so many other people who've been doing so much in the past few months.

Few would argue the applause was not deserved but was it of any real value or could it be said it was simply virtue signalling on a grand scale, a salve for our collective conscience?
Presenter Audrey Carville in conversation with the medical ethicist Dr Melissa McCullough and the commentators Patricia MacBride and Dr Leon Litvack.

1 hour, 45 minutes

Last on

Sun 31 May 2020 08:30

Broadcast

  • Sun 31 May 2020 08:30