The decision not to introduce vaccine passports is a grave error

The step back from vaccination passports may be welcomed by those who see them as limiting our freedom or who complain that they would be discriminatory. I suggest, however, that any problem lies with how such a system is applied rather than being fundamental to passports.

If I wish to exclude from my home, say, unvaccinated people then that seems to me legitimate as an exercise of my freedom and as a form of discrimination. Similarly for any premises, according to the wishes of the proprietor. A nightclub owner is surely entitled to exclude the unvaccinated no less than those wearing trainers. This freedom is essential to maintaining a range of different environments.

There will be some locations where the decision on access properly lies with local government and others (including entry to the country) where this role belongs to central government. It is when government mandates the use of passports in locations where it is in no sense the proprietor that we may need to look to the defence of our liberties.

I would have hoped that some of those protesting against passports would instead stand up for our freedom to discriminate.

John Riseley

Harrogate

Recent vaccine comments by rapper Nicki Minaj have created an awful irony. Professor Chris Whitty, in response to Minaj, stood next to Boris Johnson and said yesterday that “those who know they are peddling untruths and yet do it anyway should be ashamed of themselves”. His words perfectly highlighted the elephant in our room. Johnson has every reason to be ashamed, but isn’t.

Jeremy Harris

London E16

Tom Peck (‘Another day in Boris Johnson land – where it’s do as we say, not as we do,’ 14 September) is quite right to be outraged that members of the government and of parliament seem happy to be seen unmasked when gathered together while the rest of us are advised to wear masks in crowded public places.

It is one of the simplest things that nearly all of us can do to keep the spread of infection under control. To suggest that this is an outrageous infringement of great British personal liberties just shows how alarmingly stupid some MPs are.

But it is not just right-wing mavericks but the majority of MPs who have abandoned masks, not least because the government itself has been so confused and feeble in its messaging. Enforcing the use of masks and indeed of vaccines was always going to be difficult with widespread thoughtless, mendacious and even mischievous messaging on social media. If the government is effectively saying, “it’s up to you chaps”, and then sets a bad example, it is a dereliction of duty and the battle is half lost already.

Gavin Turner

Norfolk

Well done Boris Johnson for preparing for coronavirus and flu this winter so early. This is a positive step forward and the actions of a prime minister one step ahead of the game. Any sensible leader must be ready to tighten rules at a moment’s notice because we all saw how fast the Delta variant spread last year.

Geoffrey Brooking

Hampshire

Jenny Eclair (‘I’m used to the idea that I won’t get any inheritance when my mother dies – it’s just the luck of the draw’, 13 September) is to be applauded for accepting the inevitability of using parents assets to pay for their care instead of inheriting without contributing to the care and relying on tax payer funding.

A few years ago my wife and I moved to a larger house to accommodate, firstly a widowed aunt, and later my mother. Both remained with us until their deaths. My aunt left us £1,500 from the sale of her house and my mother lived in rented accommodation so left nothing.

We didn’t do it for financial reward but because they were part of our family. Many find it too easy to leave their relatives in the hands of strangers.

Michael Pate

Preston

While Jill Stephenson (‘Sturgeon needs to get real’, Letters, 14 September) has a point about other European countries denying calls for secession, Scotland’s membership of the United Kingdom was founded on voluntary union.

What sort of precedent is set by enforcing an act of volition? Nationalism is likely to be fuelled by righteous anger as well as by sentimental narrative. I am personally very much against nationalism, but also in favour of rational and democratic processes.

Cole Davis

Norwich