There is more to life than simply preserving it
SIR – The most lamentable thing about the current Covid-19 epidemic is the world’s surrender to the idea that the only meaning of human life lies in preserving it.
In the name of “keeping people safe”, the moribund die alone, the dead are buried without proper ceremony, mothers give birth without partners, children – particularly the poorest – cannot learn, the aims of the young are suspended, the achievements of generations are smashed, the talented go undiscovered, the brilliant cannot perform, new friendships are thwarted, potential lovers are denied and the rituals of religious faith and national remembrance are set aside. Yet we are all apparently happy to accede to the state-sponsored notion that we are profoundly heroic simply taking measures to keep ourselves alive.
Jolyon Fenwick
Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
SIR – There are two different approaches to ensuring safety: the rules-based and the risk-based. However, in a fast-moving Covid-19 situation, rules are obsolete almost before they can be enacted. It is therefore better to take the risk-based approach, assess the situation and decide a reasonable, low-risk course of action.
For instance, although Dominic Cummings was criticised for not using a taxi or ambulance to get his family from hospital as the rules “required”, the risk-based approach says it is infinitely safer to break the rules and use your own car to avoid spreading your virus into a public vehicle.
We now exist in a confusing mix of the two approaches and the police have trouble knowing how to act.
Edward Chase
Retired risk-management engineer Winchester, Hampshire