The country needs assurance that a future pandemic will be met with rational measures

SIR – Amid all the much-deserved criticism of Matt Hancock and others now that there is blood in the water, the essential truths about our response to the Covid pandemic are in danger of being missed again.

Lockdowns, masks and all the rest of the Covid hysteria did little or no good, and vast and continuing harm.

So by all means go after the powercrazed individuals who got their 15 minutes of fame, but what we really need is an assurance that this crazy, nonsense-based approach to an infectious disease with a very low mortality rate among healthy people will never, ever be allowed to happen again.

Dr Stephan Larsson

Onslow Mountain, Nova Scotia, Canada

SIR – The contents of your Lockdown Files are shocking in themselves; the flippancy of the messages written by government ministers and officials reveals an even more disturbing side to those who are supposed to lead this country.

Penny Adie

Morebath, Devon

SIR – The revelations in the Lockdown Files do not come as a surprise. Our wonderful country, once the blueprint for democracy and looked up to across the world, has become a second-rate state run by average politicians for their own benefit and protection. The public interest does not feature.

We are the idiots who suffer and have to put up with it all. So many vested interests are arguing over the terms of reference of the official Covid inquiry, and getting their names redacted to protect themselves from criticism, that it will inevitably turn it into a sham.

Isabel Oakeshott talks about a whitewash (Commentary, March 1). It’s what we got from the inquiry into the Iraq war. We need a citizens’ inquiry chaired by Lord Sumption. It should have a free and open remit and nothing should be off limits. It could report in a year for a fraction of the cost of the public inquiry. Lawyers should keep away.

Michael Coombs

Beckenham, Kent