The public keeps calm and carries on using common sense – even when those in power don’t

Sir – There are many who share Mike Carter’s view (Letters, May 27) that Dominic Cummings’s actions have meant that people will now interpret the lockdown rules as they please.

I, however, am offended by any suggestion that, because some people break the rules, I will do the same.

Obviously, I will not: common sense and a general sense of responsibility prevent it. I believe this applies to the vast majority of the country.

Rev John D Robinson

Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire

Sir – I agree with Denis Sharp (Letters, May 27). I want the people guiding us through this awful time to receive every help with their well-being – so they can focus on ours.

Anyone who thinks there isn’t one rule for those in power and another for the rest of us is either a fool or naive.

Angela Klemer

Westcliff-on-sea, Essex

Sir – The Prime Minister has been around long enough to know that, in democratic politics, it is public opinion that rules.

There is some sympathy for Dominic Cummings’s position – but the anger over his behaviour is far greater. Boris Johnson may feel a moral duty to give his backing to his principal adviser, but he is wrong to do so.

Jonathan Firth

Royston, Hertfordshire

Sir – I respect the loyalty of the Cabinet during this fiasco, but would ask them to show the same loyalty to voters, many of whom are furious that someone responsible for advising the Government clearly operates outside the Government’s advice.

The side of Mr Cummings’s story that involves driving to Durham to ensure the welfare of his child could be debated. However, his drive from Durham to Barnard Castle clearly breached the guidelines.

Celia Wright

Sturminster Newton, Dorset

Sir – I wonder how many of the 40-odd Conservative MPS agitating over Mr Cummings owe him their seats.

They complain that the episode is damaging the Government, without realising that it is they who are exacerbating the situation. A little party loyalty wouldn’t go amiss.

Bill Swanson,

Hampton Hill, Middlesex

Sir – I may be in a small minority, but I wonder if Mr Cummings has done the Government, and thus the country, a favour.

If this woeful business has made people more inclined to take small but necessary risks, that may be just what is needed. The likelihood of the NHS being overwhelmed has passed, and there seems little doubt that the worst effects of the pandemic in Britain are now not directly to do with the virus.

The economy needs a large dose of normality, and the sooner the population realises this the better.

Dr Martin Shutkever

Pontefract, West Yorkshire

Sir – An illuminating example of risk management in earlier times is the practice favoured by some Battle of Britain pilots of attacking enemy aircraft head-on.

With a closing speed of around 300 yards per second, and the effective range of the guns also 300 yards, they would aim to attack from 600 yards, giving themselves (notionally) one second to fire and one second to evade collision. They accepted this level of risk in order to defend the British people. Civilians, meanwhile, decided for themselves whether or not to eat in restaurants or attend theatre performances in London.

Three generations later, the population is apparently content for the Government, month after month, to dictate what people can do, where they can go or whom they may meet – instead reserving its fury for Mr Cummings, because it is thought that he broke the rules. Can anyone deny the country has changed?

Dr David Cooke

Cobham, Surrey