If it’s not the PM, it’s people out drinking making us all furious
Prime minister Boris Johnson accepts that the public are ‘furious’ with him and his government over his handling of Covid-19 (Metro, Mon).
I think ‘furious’ is an understatement. Who wouldn’t be furious when you consider his track record?
How can a prime minister or a government have any credibility when they or their family members are not abiding by the rules they came up with?
A quick recap – Dominic Cummings’s trip up to Barnard Castle and the refusal of the prime minister to dismiss him or acknowledge any wrongdoing.
Stanley Johnson, Boris’s dad, who seems to think none of the rules apply to him, given his trip to Greece during lockdown and then being seen in a shop not wearing a mask.
Then we have millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money squandered on a testand-trace system that’s still not working, the worst economic slump of any country in Europe and the prime minister himself unaware of his own government’s policies about lockdown restrictions in the North East.
You couldn’t make it up. This is carnage on a catastrophic scale and nobody believes a word that comes of out Boris’s mouth.
Chris Stratford, East London
The photo of the young people in Newcastle partying in Newcastle (Metro, Mon) absolutely makes my blood boil.
When so many people are making so many sacrifices including losing their lives, this is the ultimate in selfishness and brainlessness.
Which of the words pandemic, Covid19, coronavirus, masks, social distancing, breathlessness, death and no vaccine don’t they get?
Heather, Bradford
Give Boris a break. He’s not an expert on Covid – he’s the one guided by experts. All critics are doing is shooting the messenger.
You get the likes of Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer saying the opposite of everything Boris and his government say. Just help each other for the sake of
all your constituents who put you all in your privileged positions. These sarcastic comments against Boris are said with the benefit of hindsight. Boris does not have that luxury. If you know the solution, as you all appear to be wiser than Boris, then do something about it. Stop hindering him.
This is not a game.
L Henderson may be a ‘middle-aged nurse’ (MetroTalk, Mon) but is relying on outdated science in saying there is no conclusive evidence cloth masks give protection to others in respect of Covid.
For example, an experiment by biomedical engineer Dr Philip Anfinrud and others found that hundreds of droplets ranging from 20 to 500 micrometres were generated when speaking but that nearly all these droplets were blocked when the mouth was covered by a damp cloth.
Also, an experiment by Dr M Joshua Hendrix and others found that face masks provided protection when people were exposed to infected hairstylists.
Of course they are not foolproof. You can still get infected through your eyes. But they are certainly better than nothing. They are better than a policy of do nothing, which could result in a further 200,000 deaths.
Marilyn Tyzack, Devon
The most frightening part of L Henderson’s letter is that they are a nurse. I must pass on their comments to my wife’s NHS colleagues, who carried out up to 35 dead bodies a night at the height of the pandemic in April. Sometimes a mask was the only protection they had.
Husband Of NHS Worker, Chertsey
I have little or no sympathy for the five welders jailed for breaking Covid protection rules on the Isle of Man by stopping to buy lunch at Tesco when they got off the ferry instead of starting their 14 days’ mandatory isolation (Metro, Mon). These instructions are very clear and they put people at risk.
Gordon, Staines