I have not lost faith in the good work that so many MPs do – especially those who are faced with abuse

Anna Turley, I found your article about the safety of MPs in relation to the current Dominic Cummings situation very interesting and thoughtful.

I was one of those writing letters of support to the likes of Anna Soubry and Jess Phillips and any other MP I was aware of who was having a hard time during the terrible Brexit “traitor” period. I was, and still am, very concerned for our democracy and find it astonishing that folk seem to get away with so much nastiness and bullying tactics through various social media channels.

I was initially extremely cross about the Cummings family excursions but gave him some slack after hearing him talk of his concern for his family’s safety at their home. I did, however, still feel it was a little rich of him to say during Monday’s garden performance that “people shouldn’t believe all they read in the media”. As you rightly say, he has been instrumental in changing our approach to politics and politicians and had hoped someone might have asked something along the lines of “should people also challenge what they read on the side of a bus?”.

Anyway, my real purpose of writing to you is to thank you for such a good article and to wish you well for the future. Perhaps we will be lucky enough to have you back in parliament one day. We need folk like you and I just want you to know that there are many like me who do appreciate the good work many MPs, such as you were, do.

Joan Cooper
Buzzard, Bedfordshire

It is a shame that in a supposedly civilised democracy some people feel the need to revert to hate mail to express their difference of opinion. It is also interesting that when Bishops receive death threats they promise to pray for those would do them harm. If only everyone could pray for those with whom they disagree.

Jonathan Longstaff
Buxted, East Sussex

Welcome to the circus! Come, join us in laughing at the chief clown as he leads (if that is the right word) his ragamuffin troop of intellectual halfwits. Laugh hilariously as they stumble over their mixed messages!

No, wait! Here is the ringmaster, the man who is actually in charge. We have heard much this week about what he doesn’t believe in: the conventions of government, the rules that apply to lesser people, etc. However, it might be more relevant to ask what he does believe in? Or is it all some value-free mental game just to demonstrate his own superiority?

John Sculpher
Wickham Market, Suffolk

I think Betty Harris’s letter completely misses the point. There are thousands of people with exceptionally heavy burdens, huge responsibilities, sick relatives and young children. This is the normality of today. Dominic Cummings is a rule-maker, yet he is a rule-breaker so he needs to be held to account.

Christopher Jesman
Esher, Surrey

Already, assessments of the government’s response to the pandemic have, in many respects, been found wanting. It now becomes clear why. Those same cabinet members who have trotted out to defend the indefensible behaviour of special adviser Cummings have been willing to listen to someone who thinks it safe to test their eyesight by driving for 30 miles with their family in the car. Small wonder, in many ways, the government’s role has been described as a car crash.

G Barlow
Wirral

I was listening to Classic FM in my shower this morning and within the space of a few minutes there were repeated adverts from the government telling us: “If you have symptoms, stay at home.”

For me this raises two questions. Will people take this seriously?

And the second, more serious, question is, what is the reason the prime minister feels unable to function without Dominic Cummings?

Alison Ledesma​
Address supplied