Letters - Wednesday February 17, 2021

It’s the little things in life which help us all cope better with the lockdown during Covid.

For instance, I’m sure that there are many more birds and other wildlife around now than I was aware of before.

Our bird feeders, which we can clearly see from our lounge window, seem to be forever in need of topping up.

Fortunately I had a very large bag of food delivered by my local pet shop suppliers.

We have masses of goldfinches, which seem to arrive in a large flock. Lots of blue tits, chaffinches and the occasional woodpecker also show up.

There are also several robins, which is a surprise, as they do tend to be territorial, but they now seem to tolerate each other, although they’re not too close together.

When it was warmer, we had hedgehogs most evenings, scavenging for any bits the birds have dropped on the floor.

Now a regular visitor is a fox. I know this because my neighbour leaves food out for it and, having CCTV, will often share the footage showing it. Recently, we have seen its footprints left in the snow.

Trips down to the park have led us to explore this more than we would have done normally, straying off the main footways and exploring others.

It’s well worth doing as it is so much more interesting and so many squirrels are about, when I would have thought that they would be hibernating.

Things we have missed include, during December, the arrival of two additional great grandchildren and seeing another one who has learned to walk. Video calls have made up a lot for not actually being able to go and see them. Not that I am really keen on video calls all the time, as I find that none of those involved wants to end the call.

The highlight of our Covid experiences has to be a phone call from our granddaughter, during which, one of our great grandchildren, having learned to talk in this time, actually came on the phone to us. His older brother refers to us as grandad and grandma Dickie Bird.

This being due to my entertaining him with the tale, “Two little Dickie Birds sitting on a wall”, and he has obviously picked up on this, even before he had learned to speak.

Take care parents, youngsters are listening in, even before they are talking!

Do other readers have special memories of happenings during this lockdown period?

It would be good to share them.

Graham Archer

address supplied

Brexit

The harshest of possible Brexits

As the reality of Brexit becomes painfully obvious, not many people seem to be aware of the economic and political crisis that is occurring.

The people of Northern Ireland are suffering the consequence of a border in the Irish Sea; Amsterdam has overtaken London as Europe’s largest share-trading centre and businesses which depend upon imports and exports are literally collapsing under the weight of the paperwork.

All of this is accompanied by a deafening silence from its main instigator, the Conservative Party and, shamefully, Labour.

We have the harshest of possible Brexits because the Tories insisted that leaving the EU would enable the UK to enter the best of all possible worlds.

Every promise they made has turned to ashes in their mouths, but there seems to be some sort of pact of silence between the Government, the Opposition and sections of the media.

Could this be that under the terms of Boris Johnson’s “fantastic deal” there is absolutely nothing that anyone can do?

John Prance

address supplied

virus

Covid 19 and population density

Margaret Metcalf (Your Say, February 15) says she is frustrated reading that this country’s death rate from the Covid virus is the highest in Europe (she omits in fact to say in Europe). She claims simple maths shows it is inevitable given our small island is highly populated. I am afraid not.

I assume she is referring to population density. This is calculated by dividing the population by the land area measured in square kilometres. This gives the UK a population density of 280 and ranks us 14th in the world. Belgium’s is 376. In comparison, Bangladesh’s is 1,182, and China’s is 146.

However, density is not the reason for a high pandemic death rate. Recent research in the US indicates that among the many reasons are the following.

The number of crowded urban centres; the degree to which people have obeyed or not the rules regarding social distancing and wearing masks; the failure to close borders very early; the failure to test early; ethnicity; the degree of obesity, and an ageing population.

This country satisfies just about every one of these factors.

In some USA states that have a high population density the death rate from Covid 19 is nevertheless very low. Another state has a low population density, but a high death rate and a very high degree of obesity.

There is nothing simple about viruses (one trillion of them measures less than a pin head) and that includes maths.

Dr Barry Clayton

Thornton Cleveleys

virus

It’s time to close the stable door

Tens of thousands of people are due to arrive into the UK from virus-ridden countries.

The isolation hotels here aren’t even ready yet. The horse will have bolted for definite by the time the stable door is shut yet again. Close the stable door now Boris.

Lesley Skorupka

address supplied