Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has inspired a nation in a way that Donald Trump never could

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“When someone apologises they should be forgiven,” House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters. What he failed to recognise is that congressman Ted Yoho’s statement on the House floor was not an apology, but a denial.

He never took ownership of his sexist diatribe against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and in failing to do so, deserved every syllable that the congresswoman articulated flawlessly before her peers. When she pointed out that simply being a husband and a father to daughters does not guarantee a man of virtue, Ocasio-Cortez invoked her own family in breathtaking prose that elevated women everywhere. At that moment, she put a nation on her shoulders and inspired us in a way that our president is incapable of accomplishing.

Andrew Ginsburg
Southport, USA

West side story

I have been casting my eye over the presidential bid by Kanye West. The much discussed outpouring the other day from the famous rapper was, in my opinion, just another example of a rich person, who can do whatever he likes, telling ordinary people to welcome less rights and freedoms.

Naturally, I am only too aware of his alleged fragile mental health, and of the epidemic proportions throughout the developed world for that matter. But one must also take into account that the greater Kardashian clan do absolutely nothing, say next-to-nothing, unless proposed actions have been strategically analysed and choreographed to ensure they enhance the brand and increase the bank balance. There is quite simply no room for actions on impulse or any ad-libbing.

Call me cynical but I take it all with a large pinch of salt.

Robert Boston
Kingshill, Kent

Public policing

Apparently the police do not want members of the public to intervene over contraventions of the laws on face covering in shops. But the police have made it clear that they do not intend to spend much time dealing with it (with good reason). And shopkeepers are chary of doing it (with good reason). If the public wish to protect each other (with good reason), why shouldn’t they step in?

If governments wish to bring in laws and expect legislation as a whole to be respected, then some potential means of enforcement should be available. In the case of demonstrably sensible protection against a lethal threat, some concessions on individual rights are inevitable, even if levied by peer pressure.

Cole Davis
Norwich

Bowing to pressure

Surely the solution to the problem of how to greet one another during the pandemic would be to adopt the Japanese bow?

Anne Robson
Wiltshire

Not normal

Stay alert, control the virus, the R number is low, the crisis has abated, everything is returning to normal. At odds with all of this “normality” is the heartbreaking suffering out there for so many families needing to use our care homes or hospitals. We have all read the horrific stories. I now, after recently becoming a grandfather, have one of my own to live through. Parents of premature babies are being restricted to two hours access a day. Essential closeness to the parents is being limited for tiny fragile babies. It is all very disconcerting and a world away from the normal life being portrayed by this shambolic government.

Paul Morrison
Address supplied

Lessons to be learned

Boris Johnson’s comments regarding early action against the virus miss three vital points. First, the hindsight experts now filling the media with their perfect solutions of what “should have been done” would have performed no better. Second, the government needs to press China about allegedly hiding the extent of the virus. Third, and most significantly, is how elderly patients were allowed to be discharged from hospital with the virus into care homes – a scandal that put the most vulnerable at the greatest risk.

Let’s hope the government learns from these lessons.

Keith Jacques
Stafford

Where’s the humility?

I read Bim Afolami’s rather vainglorious column with wry amusement and he has probably been sponsored by Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson to right the wrongs, perpetuated by that ungrateful public and media.

I agree that the prime minister has experienced an unprecedented first year and, to be fair, he could not have foreseen a worldwide pandemic.

And the PM himself has admitted there were lessons to be learned, displaying some humility in his recent interview with Laura Kuenssberg. But obviously Afolami didn’t receive the email from the hierarchy stating: “Bim, when you write your column, please show some sincere regret.”

Because to state that the government’s actions in regard to Covid-19 to date have been rather impressive, with over 45,000 fatalities and counting, I would beg to differ.

Then of course we have the desperation to be a world leader in finding a vaccine. I’m sorry, but I find the tenor of his column still hubristic with an overriding determination to move on and out of this parlous situation as soon as possible with a smidgeon of modesty, and a basin full of promises that may or may not be fulfilled.

Judith A Daniels
Great Yarmouth