If idiots outside cluster too close, deal with them – don’t take it out on the law-abiding majority

sir – Any further restrictions on exercising (as threatened by Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary) would push many of us too far.

My outdoor experience is that everyone respects the distancing rules. If idiots meet in groups, they need dealing with, not the majority.

Oxted, Surrey

sir – The Health Secretary finds it “unbelievable that people are not staying at home”. Is he also surprised that some people are not starving?

J F F Sharland

Stannington, Northumberland

sir – It would be helpful for people wanting to leave their homes and anxious about the behaviour of some policemen to be aware of the terms of the Health Protection Regulations under which the police purport to act.

They provide that “no person may leave the place where they are living without reasonable excuse … A reasonable excuse includes the need (a) to obtain basic necessities, including food and medical supplies for those in the same household … or for vulnerable persons, and supplies for the essential upkeep, maintenance and functioning of the household or the household of a vulnerable person … (b) to take exercise either alone or with other members of their household (c) to seek medical assistance … (d) to provide care or assistance … to a vulnerable person … (e) to donate blood (f) to travel for the purposes of work or to provide voluntary or charitable services, where it is not reasonably possible to for that person to work, or to provide those services, from the place where they are living (g) to attend funerals [with restrictions].”

There are several more. Vulnerable persons are those over 70, or pregnant, or with an “underlying health condition”.

It is important to appreciate that there may be other “reasonable excuses” besides those listed, that the regulations do not forbid travel to provide voluntary services, and do not prohibit travelling a reasonable distance by car to take exercise.

A person in a car is, of course, excellently isolated from other people. His Honour Charles Harris QC Retired Senior Circuit Judge Westcott Barton, Oxfordshire

sir – Having serious underlying health issues, I am grateful to every person heeding government advice: “Stay at home, help the NHS and save lives.”

Lambeth council said of the Covid‑idiots in Brockwell Park that “disappointed is the only word”. I could give them several others. These people are risking lives. They are not stupid, simply unutterably selfish.

Prosecute and fine them hard.

Weston-super-mare, Somerset

sir – Police receive orders from goodness knows how many chains of command. How on earth are they expected to perform their multifarious duties in exactly the same way? The people criticising them wouldn’t touch their job with a bargepole.

Longlevens, Gloucestershire

sir – I see older people moving out of the way of the young while walking.

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

sir – Yesterday morning, God was seen walking around Yorkshire. “What are you doing?” he was asked. “Working from home,” he replied.

Selby, North Yorkshire

sir – Is now the time for a referendum? Question: In or Out?

Braintree, Essex

sir – It was so lovely to come down yesterday morning, the sun just working its way round to my window. And… the silence!

Swadlincote, Derbyshire Christine M Dooley