Give our NHS heroes reward they deserve
In many hospitals, doctors and nurses are being asked to treat Covid-19 patients without adequate protection. And it appears that the bigger the load carers are exposed to, the worse their own illnesses turn out to be. Retired doctors and nurses who have answered the call to help are being likened to kamikaze pilots.
The overwhelming majority of NHS staff will do what they have been trained to do. This is their time to shine and be applauded. However, let’s not resurrect that corny old label ‘angels’. They are more like soldiers being instructed to go over the top, armed only with masks, gloves and flimsy aprons against an invisible enemy.
So perhaps it’s time to reappraise where people stand in society. Medics, delivery drivers, binmen and shop staff are the people keeping this country alive.
Wakefield
Alan Aitchison,
The Fourth Plinth at Trafalgar Square should be turned into a permanent memorial to those key workers who go out to work today and tomorrow, risking their lives on our behalf.
The rest of us should reflect on their sense of duty and not complain about the temporary suspension of civil liberties.
Mel Pinnock, Glemsford, Suffolk
Is a weekly round of applause enough recognition for key workers? Surely this year the Birthday and New Year Honours lists should be given over entirely to those people to whom we will owe so much. Alan Gainer,
Much Wenlock, Shropshire
Whenever a serviceman or servicewoman goes on active duty, they are aware that they are at risk from the enemy. This service is recognised by the country with a medal. There are now thousands of NHS staff every day donning their uniform to fight the coronavirus – today’s enemy. I therefore strongly recommend that a suitable medal be struck to recognise this service, to be awarded when this particular conflict has ended. So many have gone above and beyond the call of duty. S. Swain, Rhoose, South Wales
In the MoS last week, former footballer Jonathan Walters wrote that the average Premier League player earns £3 million a year. The average nurse earns £25,000. I am a big football fan but this is so unfair. It’s time for footballers to give up those salaries for ever.
Harry Walmsley, Reading
It’s right that players take a cut to ensure that other workers at clubs do not have their salaries subsidised by the taxpayer, and that clubs as a whole make significant donations to lowerleague sides to help ensure their survival. However, personal donations to the NHS are pointless virtue-signalling.
Kevin Coley, Leicester
Never mind singing the praises of some overpaid celebrity for taking a pay cut – what about thinking more carefully about recognising the grafters behind the scenes, be it a professor trying to find a cure for this virus or the hospital cleaner who has worked long hours to help things along?
Tony Thompson, Banbury
Is a footballer really worth 150 doctors or 300 nurses? Adrian Beadnell,
Saltburn-by-Sea, North Yorkshire
If a football ‘hero’ on £200,000 a week gets paid in one day what a nurse gets paid in a year, and if a Formula 1 ‘hero’ is paid four times as much as the footballer, define ‘hero’. Alan Harvey,
Yarm, North Yorkshire
When all of this is over, let’s hope for a more compassionate and equitable society. Denis Bruce, Glasgow