Lord Sumption put it all into perspective

I UNDERSTAND that Derbyshire police have taken serious steps to prevent people from visiting beauty spots in the countryside. I had supported them.

However on March 30, I heard expressed serious doubts about the clampdown on human activity by the former Supreme Court Justice, Jonathan Sumption, whose Reith Lectures were broadcast last year.

While recognising the need for coordinated action to control the disease, I also note his concern about hysteria, expressed in the careful modulated tones of a senior lawyer whose four-volume book on the Hundred Years War that I have partly read.

That war, from roughly 1338 to 1453, coincides with the Black Death, so while as he freely admits, he is no epidemiologist, he is able to command a broader opinion than most of us.

I look forward to reading in full his view of our current state, but I have to say that his reservations about our present approaches resonate with me.

As he points out that the police are only citizens in uniform with limited additional powers. There may be a podcast of the interview with him on BBC Radio 4’s World at One on Monday.

Frankly, I would like to hear more from Lord Sumption as part of a wider debate. So far there have been examples of excessive behaviour on the part of members of the public.

If he is right, Derbyshire police in particular are also guilty of improper and irresponsible behaviour in actually damaging beauty spots in order to discourage people from visiting them and attempting to control the lawful actions of citizens in travelling from one place to another.

It may be that we are all in some danger of overreaction or, to use Sumption’s word, panic.

It seems to me clear the debate of the issues is essential before we see attempts made, legal or illicit to exert unnecessary control over people’s lives.

Lord Sumption may be wrong – but he is hardly a wild and thoughtless fanatic.

R H W Arguile (Canon), Wells-next-the-Sea