When it comes to holidays, we need a little bit of hope
Whether we get a summer holiday this year – either at home or abroad – depends on the success of the vaccine roll-out, according to health secretary Matt Hancock (Metro, Fri). Come on, we all need to be able to have the hope of a holiday or break in 2021. When I say ‘we’, that’s not just us tourists (whether here or abroad) but all the businesses that rely on the tourist trade too.
Or are we all supposed to have our headphones on, listening to Road To Nowhere while we wait for Boris to fill in his roadmap? Maybe it will lead us all the way to the lunatic asylum by the time this pandemic is over.
Klaus, Devon
Holidays? Have we forgotten the disastrous results of last Christmas’s rule relaxation, which we survivors are still paying for? Let’s get really safe before we repeat that blunder.
Roger Juer, Southwark
We have our 2021 holidays booked, all rearranged at time of cancellation in 2020 for the same venue in 2021, all UK. Looks like it might now be 2022… Pauline Bell, via email
Matt Hancock has booked a holiday to Cornwall, transport secretary Grant Shapps has ruled out holidays at home or abroad and prime minister Boris Johnson says it’s too early to say whether they will be possible.
The travel industry has spoken about the threat to people’s livelihoods. However, when it comes to threats to people’s very lives due to fresh mutations of the coronavirus, for example, lives have to come first.
The government would do well to learn the lesson of the promised relaxation of restrictions at Christmas, an offer that was hastily rescinded at short notice to the deep upset of many who were desperate to visit relatives they had not seen for months. This situation cannot be repeated.
Allowing people to get their hopes up and then crashing them down later would be far worse for everyone’s state of mind than warning them now that, with the mutations around, geographical movement is likely to remain severely, if not completely, curtailed this summer.
I, for one, was left bitterly disappointed by not being able to visit my son and his family last Christmas. I would much rather resign myself to remaining at home, or staying local, than make plans and dare to hope, but have those plans – and that hope – dashed again.
J Taylor, Twickenham
What on earth is all the media frenzy about summer holidays? If you can afford to book a holiday, domestic or international, pay a deposit. I’ve just paid one of £120. Nearer the time, either pay it in full or lose your deposit.
Only last week, we heard that the medical profession discovered that a combination of existing drugs could help enormously with people suffering the worst effects of Covid, thus meaning many could avoid intensive care. We all need to remember that the virus is still relatively new and research will provide solutions. Keep calm, stay safe and stop overreacting.
Paul, West Midlands
How pleased we all were at the start of the first lockdown that we were no longer disturbed by the constant noise of planes flying overhead, not to mention the cleaner air that resulted. We finally thought we’d started to do something about decreasing our emissions to tackle climate change. Now all we hear about is the selfish wanting to fly out on holiday. Climate change? Let the next generation make the sacrifices, even though it will be too late.
Valerie, London
Professor John Edmunds of the government’s scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage) has said of Covid-19: ‘I think we will be more or less free of this by the end of this year… say, Christmas’ (Metro, Fri).
This would seem to vindicate the words of our prime minister, Boris Johnson (who always tells us he follows the science), were it not for the minor point that Johnson made that prediction last year and that his rash decision to relax restrictions over the Christmas just gone (despite all the warnings) is in no small measure responsible for the fact we’re in the midst of yet another wave.
Furthermore, Johnson’s stated intent to reopen schools by March 8 suggests his claim that he would ‘learn lessons’ from his mistakes is fatuous too. Still, at least it’s all a distraction from his shambolic Brexit deal…
A third vaccine jab might be required to deal with new variants
If we all have to get a third vaccine jab this autumn to deal with new variants of the virus, then so be it, as it is for the common good.
If people refuse such an important vaccine, we will have even more
variants developing and the vicious circle will continue apace.
As long as it is delivered by the NHS and local health authorities, and not failed private firms, then that will be all that matters. Phil Brand, Tooting