Sir, – No one thinks that the coronavirus is a good thing, but I increasingly believe that the global response to it is both disproportionate and dysfunctional.
The global economy is in meltdown as a result of the general response to this pandemic.
Yet the fact is the vast majority of the population are likely to experience nothing worse than a bad case of the flu and in many cases not even that.
One might be forgiven for believing that we were dealing with the Black Death; truly a great leveller. But we are not.
The facts of the matter are that almost everyone who has died was elderly and had underlying health conditions.
Yes, we need to give people the best possible care, but everyone dies and it’s time for a bit of perspective on this.
People need to get back to work, children need to get back to school and yes, because there is a genuine accentuated health risk, we need to ensure that our health workers have appropriate protection.
Then let’s get on with it, giving the best possible care to the sick and dying while the rest of us put up with ‘being infected’ and get the show back on the road.
Michael Collie.
51b Elliot Street,
Dunfermline.
More than ‘me’ to consider
Sir, – I agree with Bryan Auchterlonie (Stop horrible selfishness, Courier, March 19).
It is so selfish of people to panic buy.
Who needs acres of toilet paper?
I buy just what we need on a daily basis.
I phone and check my older friends and offer to get any essentials for them.
In this crisis we should be helping others and not thinking of “me, me, me”all the time.
Isabel Wardrop.
111 Viewlands Rd West,
Perth.
Lack of foresight and planning
Sir, – The visible signs of government incompetence and detachment from reality and commonsense show no bounds.
As we know they told the UK to be prepared to voluntarily self-isolate for up to 14 days.
So what did they expect people to do?
Most have gone out and bought supplies to last them for an extended period as instructed.
And voluntarily of course so that insurance companies and Department of Work and Pensions can accuse people of making their own choices.
I recall back in the mid 70s during the three-day week that before they imposed anything they actually issued people with fuel ration documents.
A good example of foresight and planning unlike our current self-obsessed fools that we are stuck with for the next five years.
Nick Cole.
Balmacron Farmhouse,
Meigle.
Virus fight made much harder
Sir, – For sheer chutzpah, Nicola Sturgeon’s repeated exhortations to Scots to indulge in regular hand washing takes some beating.
The first minister’s government has presided over the closure of hundreds of public toilets with their hand washing facilities no longer available to Scots.
The closure of hundreds of public hand washing facilities has made the fight against Covid-19 so much more difficult.
Ms Sturgeon should reflect on this.
Jim Stewart.
23 Market Street,
Musselburgh.
Austerity has hit UK’s capacity
Sir, – We are where we are with the coronavirus.
As a member of a vulnerable group I will follow the advice from the prime minister to self-isolate for my own safety and to potentially take pressure off the NHS for the benefit of others in society.
However I cannot help wondering that the country, as a whole, would be better able to respond to this pandemic if we had not had 10 years of needless, vindictive and nasty cuts on the NHS, care and welfare services by the Tories.
That should be remembered and not forgiven.
Brian Batson.
7 Lour Road,
Forfar.
Poor relation in Covid-19 battle
Sir, – The Westminster propaganda machine is spending millions on social media, brainwashing folk that we are so lucky being in this union.
The latest one splashed all over Facebook etcetera is Scotland will receive £780 million of Covid-19 response funding. What they don’t tell folk is that Norway, with the same population as Scotland, has announced £10bn and Ireland, with a smaller population, £3bn.
Rod Selbie.
45 Silver Birch Drive,
Dundee.
Council should prioritise repairs
Sir, – In my village there are three empty council houses which have lain such for months.
Extensive repairs have slowly been implemented on one but another, empty because of a chip pan fire, has remained untouched.
Surely, even within the slow and ponderous public works department, there must be some capacity to turn these round and render them fit for needy families to rent.
Recently we viewed with awe the rapidity with which a brand new hospital was erected in China in little over a fortnight to cater for those contracting the coronavirus.
Admittedly hundreds were employed to do so but it does put our own meagre efforts in a negative light.
One would have thought that the loss of rental revenue would have been a spur but apparently not.
Indeed if there are similar circumstances in other towns and villages in other authorities, a determined resolve towards turning such properties around, and quickly, might partly address the current black holes in the finances of this and the other councils in Scotland.
David L Thomson.
24 Laurence Park,
Kinglassie.
Debate over CO2 is absorbing
Sir, – Dr Richard Dixon of Friends of the Earth Scotland says that cutting down older trees and replacing them with saplings for bioenergy releases more carbon than it saves.
I wonder what he thinks of the Drax power plant which burns wood pellets shipped from America and Canada?
Dr Dixon rightly criticises Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) saying we can capture CO2 but we cannot store it.
The theory is to capture CO2, pump it long distances and force it underground hoping it will never escape.
Where would it be buried? There is no natural vacuum on earth.
Absorbing atmospheric CO2 is best left to the oceans and plants which have been doing this successfully for millennia.
Clark Cross.
138 Springfield Road,
Linlithgow.
Never to buy a car in their lives
Sir, – I agree with Mr Lindsay (Free to user but not to taxpayer) that free travel for under-19s would be at the cost of him and I and everyone else as a taxpayer.
But I believe it will help us cut down carbon emissions across Scotland.
It will reduce car journeys and hopefully act as a nudge to young people to help them consider public transport, taxis, Uber and cycling and walking as their modes of transport and perhaps never buy a car for personal use.
Cllr Bill Porteous.
East Neuk and Landward,
Fife Councillor.
