Please can celebrities stop peddling dangerous anti-vax nonsense

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‘Black Panther’ actor Letitia Wright was criticised after sharing an anti-vax video (Getty)

I frankly despair. Another week and another so-called celebrity spreading anti-vax ideas.

Black Panther actor, Letitia Wright, retweeted a video from a particularly rabid anti-vax source. 

Notwithstanding a later feeble attempt at minimising the damage — her fans had seen the inference and some may believe it and spread the falsehoods further.

I find it staggering that Ms Wright appeared not to consider why we don’t have, for example, smallpox anymore across the globe? Why we do not have yearly epidemics of infectious diseases causing routine deaths of thousands of children and in their wake the creation of a small army of disabled people?

However, one thing Ms Wright must be aware of are the other so-called celebrities that have been rightly caught out peddling such dangerous nonsense?

Robert Boston

Kent 

Minority policies

Peter Mandelson said that this hard Brexit is the price the pro-EU camp pays for trying to reverse the referendum decision. The campaign though was not about reversing Brexit but about obtaining a more informed confirmatory referendum. If such a referendum had been accepted by Theresa May, it seems likely that there would have been a majority for her deal.

The real problem is our electoral system that allows an ideological minority to impose their views: it was austerity policies before, now it is a hard Brexit. Electoral reform is the key strategy to end divisive politics.

Giuseppe Enrico Bignardi

Durham

A green future

Humans are ecologically embedded beings; utterly dependent upon and vulnerable to changes in the non-human world. As the coronavirus pandemic has proven, the impacts of climate change are unbearable to endure in human, economic, social, cultural and gender costs. 

Women, children, the elderly, the marginalised, the destitute and ethnic minorities have been hit hardest by the pandemic. But this is as much an opportunity as a threat. It is time to usher in a new era of green economy, job creation and poverty alleviation as part of our sustainable development and human rights-based approach.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob

London 

Bulling culture

I read Andrew Grice's column with interest that there is now a feeling of optimism and hope amongst the legions of the Civil Service, since the departure of those “bully boys” Cummings and Cain, who are accused of exposing men and women to fear and intimidation, during the fall-out of a dire pandemic.

The fact that now politicians are working more constructively and proactively with the staff is to be profoundly welcomed. But why oh why did Boris Johnson allow this to happen, when anyone could have told him that a dysfunctional workforce is often the result of this type of behaviour.

I would imagine now that bridges can be rebuilt and the necessary reforms implemented and I would suggest that these so-called mavericks, movers and shakers fully appreciate that this type of strategy often does morph into a self-defeating drizzle, not the catastrophic cloudburst they so agitated for.

Judith A. Daniels

Norfolk

Broken promises

Boris Johnson’s green promises would be so very welcome if we could believe them. But this is the man who broke promises within months of making them, so how much faith can we put on targets set between 10 and 30 years hence?  

I'm waiting for the promises he will make to dig him out of the hole when the vaccine roll-out goes belly up: an end to world poverty within 50 years? Everlasting life from 2100? A new British Empire covering half the globe in a hundred years?  

Or maybe the promise will be realistic and more immediate: a new PM by the summer.  

Tim Sidaway 

Hertfordshire 

Time lost

I can't say that I have felt bored over the past eight months or so. The time has passed remarkably quickly and we have frequently wondered where the days and weeks have gone. We have read more, but the shelves of unread books remain full. We have gone out less, for meals, theatre and concerts, so we must have watched more TV. The SkyBox has more storage space, as fewer new series have been made.

We have a daily walk routine, introduced at the start of lockdown at the end of March, and that has reintroduced us to friends and neighbours who we have known for more than 40 years but lost touch with because of our former busy lives. On our walks we have become more acutely aware of the changes to the seasons in gardens and in hedgerows.

We are fortunate baby boomers who had previously retired and developed interests, which we have been able to expand to fill the days in 2020. My wife paints. I'm a local historian. 

We go into town less. We get groceries delivered. We miss the hustle and bustle of market day, but most of all we miss the physical contact with our children and grandchildren. Time spent with them is lost forever.

John E Harrison

Lancashire

Military jargon

Twice recently I heard Mr Johnson refer to Mr Starmer’s fellow MPs as “troops”. Why does the PM persist in using outdated – even in his lifetime – military jargon? Cavalry, bugles, enemy, fight and, now, troops? What? Enough, for heaven’s sake! 

People are dying but not as a result of any military activity. They are dying because of this government’s incompetence. I guess it’s too late to ask Mr Johnson to put aside childish things, such as his toy soldiers?

Beryl Wall

London