We’re squandering opportunity lockdown gives us all to take a fresh look at life

I had a misplaced hope that the change to all our lives might be an opportunity for reflection upon lessons that have been learned, what is important, and how things could be done better in future.

During the more than threescore years and ten of my life there has not been any time when the world’s population has been in such jeopardy or lives so disrupted and threatened. Collectively, my generation endured constant fear during the Cold War, particularly during the Cuban crisis. Then, we knew the enemy and politicians were able to prevent an escalation to prevent the nuclear Third World War, which threatened to wipe us out. Today we are faced with a silent, dangerously unpredictable enemy. I would not wish to be in the shoes of any political leader or politician having to take daily decisions on such a scale that they are uniquely responsible for the life and death of the population. They are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

There is no doubt that things might have been done differently, but I am certain no decision was ever made without the very best of intentions and under the guidance of experts in the appropriate field.

Now is not the time for turning this into a political scoring match. There will be time in the future to constructively evaluate whether decisions were taken too early or too late. Whether we were well enough prepared, particularly for our courageous NHS staff at the forefront of this battle, to have been better protected. Hindsight is a wonderful gift.

Personally I am in total despair and I am sure that I will not be alone, at the constant negativity of certain sectors of the media, some who have recently behaved like a pack of wolves, not adhering to the rules that they are castigating others for breaking, and of those who wish to turn these tragic events into a political circus.

JANE BALL Hendersyde, Kelso