Letters - April 27, 2020

Like most challenges, the current crisis also brings opportunities. The streets are wonderfully quiet, and walking or cycling for daily exercise and necessary travel feels much safer and more pleasant, especially with the longer evenings.

The air is fresher, and that

it’s a wonderful time to explore our surroundings from your own front door (while keeping your distance from others of course).

The quiet roads are also perfect for building confidence cycling on the road, for children and adults. In fact on a recent bike ride I could not help but notice that there were more couples and young families out cycling than there were cars.

Being able to enjoy our own town by foot or bike shouldn’t be something which ends with the current crisis. It should be something that’s part of everyone’s daily life.

Reducing our reliance on cars also keeps us fit and healthy – and that will always help keep pressure off the NHS, during Covid-19 and beyond.

With a bit of thought, we can all do something to make sure the ‘normal’ we return to after the end of this crisis is better than the ‘normal’ we left behind. I, for one, will be switching the car for the bike whenever possible.

Ian Hallett

address supplied

Virus

Inaction amounts to national disgrace

I am frankly baffled that the UK is still desperately short of personal protective equipment (PPE).

It is our Prime Minister, not I, that has described this pandemic as a war against a deadly enemy and has, consequently placed the UK on a war footing.

This is, indeed, a global war and it is therefore right that we should make some comparisons with the last global war during the 1940s.

The then Prime Minister put Lord Beaverbrook to work immediately in overseeing the production of Spitfires, Hurricanes, tanks and other essential munitions required to fight our deadly enemy. Beaverbrook turned over car factories and other essential manufacturing business production and the scale of our production was immensely impressive.

Spitfires, Hurricanes and the like are complex pieces of machinery, not easy to produce but essential to the war effort.

If we contrast the 1940s successful production of Spitfires to now, it is staggering to note that we are unable to produce relatively simple to make gowns, masks, gloves and other essential PPE to supply our hospitals, care homes and other vital services.

Consequently, essential front-line staff have lost their lives and continue to be placed at serious risk to themselves, their families and friends.

It is a testament to their bravery and courage that they are fighting on regardless.

After some three months of enduring this deadly virus it is only now, in late April, that the Government has appointed a Minister to oversee the vital procurement of PPE. This inaction amounts to a national disgrace.

During the Battle of Britain we managed to increase the production of Spitfires that helped in turning the tide of the battle in our favour yet sadly we were desperately short of pilots – The Few – who managed to defeat the Luftwaffe and prevent the invasion of our dear country.

We have endured 10 years of running down our social care system to the point where the sector staffing levels are seriously depleted. Churchill could do little to replace the pilots who lost their lives during the Battle of Britain because we could not source and train them fast enough. I sense a parallel here, and yet the ability to put this right is within the gift of our Prime Minister and his government. Are they listening?

Philip Bartey

Group Chief Executive

Autism Plus

Response

Bit of cruel comfort on deadly chair

I was interested in Steve Canavan’s article in The Gazette (April 23) re - Old Sparky: The American electric chair.

I loved the picture which showed a head rest to obviously keep the person comfortable before the execution.

Only the Americans could think of this cruel addition to the chair.

It would be funny if it was not so very sad.

Alun Jones

Blackpool