Disability cannot be an afterthought when building back from Covid -19

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The needs of girls with disabilities have to be a central to any education initiative (iStock/Getty Images)

I read Andrew Woodcock’s piece on G7 with great interest. The summit actually presents the UK with a major opportunity, and one that we should not miss.

G7 leaders are making commitments to give every girl a quality education, which is very encouraging to see. But there is also a critical opportunity here to put girls with disabilities at the centre of these efforts. We can’t promise to promote inclusive education if we do not do this.

This is the time for securing education for girls with disabilities. We are cohosting the Global Education Summit in July; it comes after one of the most disruptive periods for education in living memory. The UK government can pave the way and demonstrate how important it is to place girls with disabilities at the heart of education plans. Disability cannot be an afterthought if we hope to truly build back better from the Coronavirus pandemic.

Gemma Hope

Director of policy, Leonard Cheshire

A missed opportunity

With the UK in the privileged position of hosting the G7 conference in Cornwall, the lens of the world was focused on us.

The opportunity was there for Great Britain to be seen as the essential catalyst for much-needed initiatives, including the requirement to vaccinate the adult population of the world as quickly as possible and to refocus the attention of the world’s industry and economies away from fossil fuels.

However, thanks to the “hard Brexit’ fashioned by our own prime minister, Boris Johnson, this was clearly undermined and therefore diluted, if not entirely stifled by a distraction we created.

This was caused by either the UK government’s lack of understanding of the detail of the agreement or determination to browbeat the EU into modifying the agreement to the benefit of the UK at a later date.

As far as the UK is concerned. All that was clearly achieved, if viewed from an overseas perspective, is that Johnson's government has succeeded in making Britain “Grate” again in the eyes of our key contemporaries.

Nigel Plevin

Address supplied

No rest

Let’s hope Tom Peck doesn’t ever have such a punishing schedule as the prime minister, Boris Johnson.

The prime minister hosted the G7 in Cornwall, returned to London on Sunday afternoon for a cabinet meeting over the roadmap out of lockdown delayed for another four weeks, attended a Nato meeting in Brussels on Monday, returned for the 6pm Covid-19 briefing, then entertained the Australian prime minister for dinner to discuss a free trade deal between the UK and Australia. No chance of a lie-in I imagine!

Geraldine Lofting

Bath

More needed

We’re all tired and fed up with Covid-19. We’ve all had to make sacrifices in order to save lives and protect the NHS. But it’s unfortunate that the biology of viruses doesn’t automatically mean that the pandemic is over, or coming to an end.

So while we’re fatigued, it is also unfortunate for Michael Gove to be talking of something “unprecedented and remarkable” to change the “terminus date” of lifting the final restrictions on 19 July when their own Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (Sage) are warning of a possible further 40,000 deaths this summer even with this later date.

While the NHS has been amazing at getting the vaccines to as many people as quickly as humanly possible, and scientists have been astounding at developing so many effective vaccines in the first place, what we really need now is a threefold change in strategy from this government. Firstly, stop setting meaningless dates in supposed stone, and delaying necessary steps (three delayed lockdowns and delayed stopping of flights from India come to mind) and act more quickly in the future. Secondly, get every adult vaccinated around the world in a kind of Apollo Programme for humanity. Thirdly, we need a contingency plan on what to do if a variant arises that escapes vaccination.

This seems like a no-brainer to me

Ian Henderson

Norwich

History repeating

I was impressed by the speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle's, address on the subject of the current government's apparent contempt for parliament.

It is not the first time this has happened. I seem to recall that in America some years ago, the executive branch of government attempted to assert supremacy over the legislature.

The head of the executive branch was Richard Nixon. It all ended rather badly, I understand.

John Lewis

Address supplied