Boris Johnson must now ask the EU for an extension to Brexit negotiations

In the current grave situation in which the UK finds itself, the government must surely consider asking the European Union for an extension of the current leaving arrangements. To risk a move to WTO rules at a time when Covid is running riot would be to invite economic suicide.

Such a request need not be seen as reneging on the Brexit vote – simply a recognition of the perilous situation in which we find ourselves today. Hopefully in a few months, vaccination will have helped us to return to some kind of normality. Negotiations for departure could then reasonably start again.  

The Rev Andrew McLuskey

Ashford, Middlesex

After years of pledges to stop the flow of people across the English Channel, Boris Johnson's government has managed to finally achieve what no previous administration was ever able to.

Of course, back in the days when it was considered (by some people) to be a problem, the flow was of people trying to get into the country.

Julian Self

Milton Keynes

I have read a lot about getting a grip, Christmas not being cancelled but being different, and abhorrence at people travelling to be with loved ones. Covid kills; as a nurse I know that all too well. But loneliness and isolation also kill, so spare a thought for the families of those who won’t live through Christmas now due to suicide, or who will miss their very last Christmas with families, as they are terminally ill.

Some of us desperately needed a couple of days with family to recharge our batteries after a relentless and unimaginably stressful workload this year. We are now being denied that and are struggling to cope, all alone, due to the restrictions.

The government should have put in better guidance and provision for those who face Christmas alone, and for emergency workers who don’t all get Christmas Day off.

Penny Lavis

Braintree

Can somebody please explain to me the value in rolling out, at great cost, an extensive testing programme of pupils in London and the southeast as soon as they return from a two week Christmas holiday and, therefore, a two week period of isolation?

Would it not make more sense to wait until mid-term in order to obtain an accurate picture as to the “behaviour” of the virus in schools?  

Targeted testing of schools could (and should) have been carried out months ago, yet school staff are now ordered to prepare for the event over Christmas.

Jerry Watts

Towcester, Northamptonshire  

Rory Sullivan`s fascinating article, ‘Early humans may have hibernated to weather harsh winters’, (21 December), leaves me wondering whether we haven’t simply come full circle. Ours is a tier 3 burrow, by the way, and here’s hoping they’ll wake us up when it’s our turn for the vaccine.

Rev Peter Sharp

Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire