Shoddy pandemic decision-making has damaged trust in government
sir – The Lockdown Files provide an insight into government decisionmaking processes and highlight the completely random approach adopted when making choices that impact the entire population. The lack of professionalism and structure is breathtaking.
If this is how governments work and operate, how can we know that big decisions about future policy on matters such as net zero and immigration have been subject to proper discussion and debate before being foisted on the population?
Ian Mackenzie
Preston, Lancashire
sir – Matt Hancock did not want to follow the science on reducing the fortnight of isolation as it might have implied that he was wrong in the first place (report, March 6). Is the same argument being applied to HS2? Mike Metcalfe
Butleigh, Somerset
sir – The most puzzling aspect of the Whatsapp revelations is how someone of Matt Hancock’s calibre came to wield so much power.
Jennifer Bell
Lerryn, Cornwall
sir – The crucial moment of the Government’s response to Covid was Boris Johnson falling ill and nearly dying. Not only was it a vivid and very public example of no one being “safe” from catching the virus, leading to people being more willing to consent to the draconian lockdown rules, but it also blunted and probably altered Mr Johnson’s own political instincts, to the point where he accepted advice from those around him that he might otherwise have ignored.
Edmund Hughes
New Forest, Hampshire
sir – As the details of Matt Hancock’s Whatsapp exchanges were being published, a Yougov poll revealed that twice as many people thought the lockdown restrictions were not strict enough compared to those who found them too strict. It appears that people are having a hard time admitting they were conned. Despite all the “never again” sentiments being expressed, it is depressing to realise just how easily such disastrous policies could be repeated.
JJ Hawkins
Kingscott, Devon
sir – In Monday’s edition of the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, under the headline “Anders Tegnell was right all along”, are statistics apparently showing that Sweden had the lowest excess mortality of all EU countries. Mr Tegnell, the architect of Sweden’s light-touch Covid response, and Sweden as a country were regularly vilified for not copying all the lockdown policies, mask mandates and school closures – adopted elsewhere almost universally.
At least, unlike our own Government, he didn’t have to worry about upsetting Nicola Sturgeon.
Gilbert Archdale
Sturminster Newton, Dorset