No wonder the UK is the worst in Europe for coronavirus – our ‘keep calm and carry on’ attitude let it happen

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So, that’s it. Finally, the curtain has been drawn. Whichever way one tries to spin this – and it will be spun, no doubt – the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the United Kingdom is nothing less than dramatic. And so we wait for the wave of uproar, the anger, the riots even, or a soupcon of self-criticism at least. Yet nothing comes. Just as we sadly witnessed with the Grenfell Tower fire, the good people of the United Kingdom seem not to realise that it isn’t just their economy-obsessed politicians that are out of touch with real life, it is the people themselves – British society as a whole.

In the same way that government and business managed to justify the idea that self-assessment for fire safety was a sensible strategy, rather than the inevitable and perilous consequence of cuts to the fire brigade, a quick and dirty way to save money – because, as proven by the use of flammable cladding, buildings never actually catch fire – here we are, in a society riven by systematic cuts to public services that is now encouraging people not to contact their GPs after several days of a high fever, but to wait at home till it abates or until one becomes too ill, because this is “what the science tells us to do”.

Why is this so? Why are the good people of Britain, not to mention great swathes of its media, buying into and parroting the misleading claims we keep hearing? We’re “flattening the curve”, are now “past the peak” and if the virus disproportionally affects Bame Brits, it can’t possibly be the result of social inequalities linked to generations of racial discrimination. Why? Because so many in this society are complicit. So many have an interest in the perpetuation of inequalities – social, racial, educational; between owners and renters; between those who are able to work from home and those who must go on the front line every morning.

Even the poorest are able to make sense of their lives because they, in turn, are able to exploit the poor from elsewhere, those making their cheap clothes in Asia or those being flown in from Eastern Europe to pick the food from the fields of their beloved island for an insultingly minuscule wage. And that doesn’t even begin to address the horror of animals in battery farms, whose unbearable sacrifices bring joy to the many queueing for their daily fix of takeaway popcorn chicken.

Could this virus become Britain’s Vietnam War? Could it trigger a major national reassessment and finally expose a bitter truth that this great nation has been living a post-colonial lie, on borrowed time, for far too long? Or are we so deluded, so unjustifiably proud and, in fact, so scared, that we’re simply going to keep calm and carry on – carry on sinking, that is, oppressed by this toxic, calcified system, in order to make sure that “Brexit means Brexit”?

Angele DG
London SE14

Disappointing PMQs

Watching PMQs today, it’s clear that the present format, with fewer members present and no barracking or braying from the audience, exposes the prime minister’s inability to focus, understand a question and to maintain a consistent narrative. He says one thing and then in the same sentence says something different. Nothing has changed except now there is nowhere for him to hide.

Will the right-wing press mention his obvious weaknesses having lauded him as saviour of the UK? Or will they stand aside as he leads us over the cliff as we ditch our EU friends in favour of new untested friends? Who will wake up first to the changed world we find ourselves in?

When the facts change, a wise person reviews the situation and if necessary will change their opinions. What evidence do we have of that today?

John Simpson
Ross on Wye

History repeating itself

In 1961, John F Kennedy, the then-president of the USA, authorised the CIA-led invasion of Cuba which became known as the Bay of Pigs, and ended in ignominious disaster in April of that year.

Moving to the present, it has been reported that a group has been apprehended on a Venezuelan beach in some bizarre operation to overthrow the president of said country, Nicolas Maduro, and allegedly at least two of the protagonists are American citizens. Goodness knows why they had their passports on them during an illegal raid.

The government of this deeply troubled South American country has been quick to point the finger at Donald Trump, and close associates in backing this plot or at least having knowledge of its existence.

We are used to spooky parallels with the 1920-30s, and now could it be that we are seeing the 1960s being repeated; within just over 18 months of the invasion, Kennedy was killed by an assassin in Dallas.

I feel it wise that someone should remind the current occupant of the Whitehouse what happened back in those tumultuous years!

Then again, some people never learn.

Robert Boston
Kingshill

Care failures

Matt Hancock is the secretary of state for health and social care, however, he has failed to bring forward a single care bill and has presided over the deaths of people in care homes, mostly privately run. Bupa, for example, has had a number of deaths in their homes, which leaves questions to be answered – after they are asked of course.

The planning disaster is down to the last 10 years of Tory rule. No ifs, no buts.

I, for one, did not choose this path. Can’t see many others owning up to voting for it either.

The time for a proper rethink of how we want our society to move forward is now.

Hancock’s disdain for a Labour MP asking questions will be discussed further!

Gary Martin
London E17

Masks for smokers

I can reassure Mike Sawyer of Denver (Letters, 5 May) that people are already making holes in masks so that they can smoke – seen regularly on the streets of east London!

I also see masks slung around people’s necks, dangling from hands and lifted off the mouth in order to talk to others, demonstrating clearly that they are utterly useless outside a medical setting.

Glynne Williams
London E17