Letters - Wednesday, May 5, 2021

On April 10, being very much a Royalist and a great admirer of the Queen and Prince Philip, I sent a condolence card to Buckingham Palace.

On Wednesday, April 28, I was surprised to receive an envelope, postmarked Buckingham Palace SW1A 1AA.

Inside was a lovely “thank you” card from the Queen.

It included an excellent photo of Prince Philip, in a suit and tie, with lovely words from “Elizabeth R”.

How splendid that time was made to acknowledge my card.

This is just another sample of how blessed we are in having such a caring Head of State.

God bless her.

Canon Michael Storey

address supplied

PANDEMIC

India’s plight is also ours

Together with China’s, India’s population accounts for approximately one third of the world’s population.

The poverty in many of its 28 states is so extreme it makes claims of poverty in Britain derisory. Over 67 per cent of homes have no modern kitchen stove. Life expectancy is way below that of Western countries. Infant mortality is very high, in some states the equivalent of England’s in the early 18th century.

India, the world’s largest parliamentary democracy, is currently suffering daily Covid -19 infections of around 400,000! Hundreds of railway carriages have been converted into emergency hospital wards.

People are dying in the street and being cremated on pavements and in parks. The death rate is horrific.

How ironic it is therefore to recall that as supplies of vaccine are rapidly running out, India is home to the Serum Institute, the world’s biggest manufacturer of vaccines.

The response by the rest of the world to India’s plight has so far been inadequate although it is good to note that Pakistan has given aid.

We need to remember that no one is safe in this pandemic, which will be with us for years ahead , until everyone is safe.

Viruses do not respect frontiers. Given their nature, the more people that are infected significantly increases the chance of new mutations. A new one has recently been identified in India.

By helping stricken India which we once ruled we are also helping ourselves.

Dr Barry Clayton

Thornton Cleveleys

TECHNOLOGY

Is it time to saddle up the horses ?

Intelligent cars have been a part of our culture since the 1980s starting with the Knight Rider’s ‘Kitt’, a car probably far more intelligent than its driver...

The Batmobile is always on call for Batman and with a push a button it would locate him and drive there. Of course, having an automatic car with heavy weaponry may not be the best option for the average suburban driver.

A question may be what happens when the person using a driverless car is drunk, are they drink driving or drink autodriving? A drunken slur may cause confusion as to which Cambridge to send them to, the one in Massachusetts, America or the in England.

Autodrive cars can be programmed to do may things including to kill, well actually to selectively kill. If an accident is going to hurt the passengers or someone outside, then being inside the car is the best option.

Hackers could lead to more worrying possibilities.

Anarchists could create havoc by simply sending all of the autodrive cars onto the major roads and then have them stop in the middle of every intersection.

The end won’t come with the terminators shooting us down but rather it will be the autodrive cars running us down.

Maybe it’s time to saddle up the horses again.

Dennis Fitzgerald

address supplied

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