Don't rewrite Covid pandemic history

Des Morgan revisits his 2020 comments, on the government’s response to the Covid pandemic.

Back then Des wrote that the Government exaggerated the threat of Covid. He backs this, in his 2023 March 13 letter arguing the Government’s chief scientist had said “lockdown is not … effective”.

Is this the same chief scientist who said he “argued stronger than anyone for action for lockdown” but received a “telling off” from chief medical officer and the then Cabinet Secretary.

Des thinks that Matt Hancock’s WhatsApp messages back his view. If I wanted to reassess: Did the Government exaggerate the prognosis of scientists or did they drag their feet and avoid taking required measures, my starting point would not be a Daily Telegraph analysis of WhatsApp messages between self-serving Tory politicians and officials.

After all the Telegraph always puts short term profit of big business as number one priority, trumping public health questions, opposing public health measures even as the death toll of Covid rose.

I would assess what the scientific advice was in comparison with the public pronouncements and actions of that Government.

The first plan was to have no plan and to “let the bodies pile high.” Sing happy birthday while washing hands.

Eventually the Government was forced to introduce lockdown measures. These saved thousands of lives here (millions globally).

Lock downs are only one of a set of public health measures, and it must be noted all of them were opposed by a peculiar coterie of conspiracy theorists.

While it’s true Hancock uses comments about scaring people, when the situation was indeed scary, he also “keeps from the news” the scary information that the government’s “eat out to help out” scheme was spreading the virus.

The issue is too important to allow the history so far of the pandemic to be re written.

Peter Smith

Woodside Avenue

Swindon

Rail commuters paying much more for less

The Government's failure to act has left local train commuters from Chippenham to Bath and Bristol, Kemble, Cheltenham, Swindon or London, to fork out ever more eye watering amounts for increasingly unreliable journeys.

All this in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.

Ministers really cannot keep turning a blind eye to these problems.

The reality is that people are paying more for less on our rail network. There are more delays and cancellations, compounded by the Government's failure to deal with the strikes.

Yet prices for tickets and season tickets keep rising.

If this Government had even a shred of decency, they would freeze rail fares immediately.

That at least would help families struggling under the cost-of-living crisis that Liz Truss and her Conservatives colleagues helped to create.

But like their Wiltshire councillor chums, the Tory Government's message to the rest of us is "pay more to get less".

Only a change of national and local leadership will alter that.

Dr Brian Mathew

Liberal Democrat Wiltshire Councillor

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