Coronavirus school safety claims is another example of the government’s fondness for car crash statistics

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I have just heard the most ludicrous logic to justify sending children to school by Dr Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical officer. There is a greater risk of being run over by a car, on their way to school, than catching the virus – so send them to school. This defies logic.

The government has a predilection to measuring risks by their car crash statistics. First it was go back to work, on public transport, as it’s safer than being hit by a bus, now the kids are forced to risk their lives, on the basis they may not reach their classroom. Two things the government needs to do urgently, by next week, is fit speed cameras outside every school, as well as surrounding roads, and enforce fines. Secondly, stop scaremongering the public.

From the Aberdeen experience, where the school was closed after a positive case of Covid-19, it’s teachers who should be given danger money.

Stuart Wilkie
King’s Lynn, Norfolk

Theresa May legacy

I will admit I had my issues with Theresa May and felt that she was not a natural fit for the role of prime minister, but of course she had to contend with some disgraceful scheming from her “colleagues” behind her back.

She will probably now admit that she is glad she is shot of that onerous job and can start campaigning for issues that really matter to her, such as the deserved redress for the victims of the drug Primodos. I feel that in these justifiable campaigning roles, she will find a sense of achievement and, in this matter at least, make a difference.

Her legacy with the dire “hostile environment” policy is still, it seems, bearing fruit with the Home Office and she should have a word in Priti Patel’s ear that, for all the rhetoric, lessons still have to be learnt and, what is more, expedited – not least with the scandalous whipping up of the Channel migrant issue.

Judith A Daniels
Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

More Tory self-interest

It is interesting to read that Michael Gove and the government are working flat out to prepare for the upcoming disaster that will be the inevitable result of their no-deal plans. No amount of money or effort will be spared to ensure the wealthy promoters of Brexit will get even wealthier while the gullible populace get poorer.

What a pity the same government paid so little heed to the conclusions of the Cygnus exercise and planned accordingly for the inevitable pandemic we were bound to face at some point. At least then we might only be racing one financial disaster instead of two. As far as I can tell, the worst-case scenario will be continued governance by a group of self-interested wealthy Tories.

Geoff Forward
Stirling

Family feuds

The late cartoonist Charles M Schulz once said: “Big sisters are the crab grass in the lawn of life.” Though he was not referring to Maryanne Trump Barry, the eldest sister of Donald Trump, the retired federal judge has come back to haunt her little brother by deeming him a liar and a cheater with no principles.

When your own sister testifies against your character and your niece pens a scathing tome to expound the root of your rotten persona, maybe, just maybe, you are not fit to hold the most powerful office in the world. Schulz failed to point out that where crab grass grows, fertiliser is usually nearby.

Andrew Ginsburg
Southport, Connecticut, US

Medical school boost

Although its manner of coming about has been accidental and capricious, and perhaps rather craven, I welcome the decision to increase the number of medical training places in line with offers made and now rather dubiously fulfilled. One can only regret that this wasn’t done decades ago.

Did this perhaps reflect a wish on the part of the medical establishment to maintain the scarcity value of their profession? Was it felt that such extreme selectiveness was required to maintain quality standards?

If suitable candidates are such a rarity then I rather doubt the ability of admissions boards to pick them out from among the merely very talented.

Facing a period of prolonged high unemployment, medical training is a better way than most of absorbing our surplus people. Having more doctors would relieve some of the current stresses in the system. In possible future scenarios, where we find ourselves needing even more doctors, the shortage is likely to be exacerbated by our also losing a lot of doctors.

John Riseley
Harrogate