A muddled PM

sir – Allister Heath (Comment, August 13) highlights Britain’s failings compared with Sweden’s performance in the Covid fiasco, but why are we still in such a mess?

I welcomed Boris Johnson as a strong leader after Theresa May’s dismal performance on Brexit, but what have we got instead? A muddled leader who makes pronouncements and then goes back on them; who listens to science but not logic, and who instils fear in people rather than the confidence needed to get the country out of the current catastrophe.

Deaths from Covid are now insignificant compared with those resulting from the virtual closure of the NHS to people with other diseases. Businesses are being ruined every day that senseless restrictions continue. Prospects for the young deteriorate while education is on hold.

Come on, Mr Johnson: get a grip.

Rupert Godfrey

Devizes, Wiltshire

sir – FP Forbes (Letters, August 13) says lockdown was motivated by panic on the part of the Prime Minister.

Bearing in mind that, when it broke out, Covid-19 was an unknown virus, the Government decided reasonably to be led by “the science”. As the pandemic unfolded, scientists advised ministers that, if left unchecked, the virus could result in hundreds of thousands of deaths.

What politician would ignore that? We should refrain from placing blame until all the facts are known and the pandemic is under control.

Brian Pegnall

Falmouth, Cornwall