Politicians feed us Covid statistics – but these numbers represent real people with hopes and dreams

Boris Johnson has explained his decision to remove all Covid restrictions by saying things such as, “continued restrictions simply delay the inevitable”. In other words, some people will die. Fact. Get over it.

When we look at the statistics, it does on face value seem sensible. Infection rates are high, deaths are low, and so a rush to herd immunity is possible. But these numbers being fed to us by the politicians are not just numbers. They are real people, with hopes and dreams and expectations. They are people who locked down with us last year, who walked two metres away from us when we needed a mental health buddy, who clapped the NHS on their doorsteps. And now, is it really acceptable to let them die so we can all go back to buying our sandwiches at lunchtime and drinking our pints at the bar, or watching football?

It gets more scary though when you stop to consider who these unfortunate people are likely to be. In a runaway race to herd immunity, the virus will seek out those who are most vulnerable, in this case the small group of people who have been invisibly shielding these last 18 months. Did we protect all those people with our collective efforts last year just so we can line them all up against the wall now?

Paul Finch

Somerset

I find the fake outrage regarding the prime minister’s comments on the “over-80s” rather frustrating. The economy is not an abstract entity; it is about the lives of real people and their physical and mental wellbeing. The government is completely right to balance the damage done by lockdowns to wider society, with the interests of the over-80s and other vulnerable groups.

A Brown

Allestree, Derby

I recently attended the international T20 at Trent Bridge. A condition of entry was double vaccination and thus an NHS Covid Pass. This was handled very efficiently by Trent Bridge stewards. As we approached the ground we were intercepted and had a band attached as proof of vaccination. As we entered the ground to have our ticket scanned our band was clearly visible. There was very little delay.

How can anyone (without medical reasons) object to being vaccinated, a process which is transforming our fight against Covid, and then expect to join in social events? They represent a potential source of infection and therefore a danger to those with whom they socialise. No one can get Covid and keep it to themselves. If these people have such strong feelings that they must not be vaccinated then they should do the honourable thing and isolate themselves until Covid is over.

Robert Murray

Nottingham

It is disturbing that the government is reneging on its promise not to force nightclubs to demand Covid passports. I’ve had the jabs and support vaccinations, but if I were younger I would be infuriated with the government trying to coerce me into taking the jab by denying me access to clubs, shows, pubs, restaurants, places of worship, etc. As an older, jabbed person, why should pubs ban me because younger folk who don’t really need the jab decide to defy government threats and refuse it?

Only temporary? The government introduced ID cards during the Second World War. The war ended in 1945 but they kept ID cards until 1952 when a policeman arrested someone for refusing to show his papers and the judge threw the case out.

This “nothing to hide, nothing to fear” complacency will see us sleepwalking into a dystopia. They said there would be no Covid passports. Why can’t this government keep its word for once?

Barry Tighe

Address supplied

When will civil responsibilities take their rightful place alongside civil liberties?

Tony Shephard

Shropshire

Once again, we are promised more “explosive revelations” in Dominic Cummings’s interview with Laura Kuenssberg. Except, curiously, there never is an explosion: it’s dud after dud.

And this is the same Dominic Cummings who, when director of the short-lived New Frontiers Foundation think tank in 2004, had this to say about his interviewer’s employer: “The privileged closed world of the BBC needs to be turned upside down and its very existence should be the subject of a very intense and well-funded campaign that involves bringing out whistleblowers armed with internal memos and taped conversations of meetings.”

A well-honed Cummings modus operandi, it would seem, leavened with more than just a smattering of hypocrisy.

Jeremy Redman

London SE6