The world will be a safer place when Joe Biden is inaugurated

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APTOPIX Biden (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

I sincerely hope the vast majority of Americans agree with me that Joe Biden's recent speeches –concerning the thugs invading the Capitol – have been incredibly impressive. Joe Biden has proven himself to be stable, sane and fair. Indeed, the world will be so much safer once he is inaugurated in 12 days. Mr Biden is a moral man. That alone makes me believe that there's never been such a stunning contrast between the outgoing president and the president-elect in the US, or frankly anywhere. Now, more than ever, I cannot contain my excitement about Joe Biden finally becoming president. Donald Trump being tried for all his despicably immoral crimes will please me even more. 

Sebastian Monblat 

London 

Bad briefing

I had naively hoped for better things from Boris Johnson’s briefing on Thursday, given the new injection of comms advice. Alas, to borrow one of his favourite words. So, Mr Johnson, here’s some free advice.

First, never, ever start a speech telling me which question is most important to me. It’s a cheap, lazy trick and you’ll almost certainly be mistaken. As, indeed, you were. All you want to do is answer a question you have already decided to address. My hackles are now already raised and whatever you say subsequently is compromised. And so it came to pass.

Second, if you invite people to pose questions, at least have the courtesy to answer them. I honestly don’t believe a single question was answered. If you’re not going to bother, let’s not have to endure the circus of pretence. You simply reinforce your well-earned image as an untrustworthy, indecisive PM.

Third, stop comparing us to other countries. Simply saying that we’re doing better than France or Germany is meaningless and annoying if our hospitals are all but falling over, as they are. (And it’s not a competition. How utterly childish!)

Lastly, let’s have more honest data. Please give us proportions alongside the numbers you and your Cabinet bandy about, so that we have meaningful information about how we are doing. Please don’t lie about the NHS. It has extraordinary (heroic) resolve and resilience at a personal level but that is not inexhaustible. It has less resilience at a basic resource level because the Tories decimated it. Own that.

Beryl Wall

London

Stopping social media

Facebook and Twitter finally stopped Donald Trump from posting, even if it is only for a short time. This was as a result of his words that encouraged an act of terrorism at the Capital and his repeated lies about the election result. Why has it taken so long?

With a number of Republicans finally standing up to Trump, surely the social media organisations could switch off his vitriol and false claims for the remaining few days, although a permanent block would be appreciated by many. I know freedom of speech is important, but this could be the exception.

Dennis Fitzgerald

Melbourne

Greece II

Nicola Sturgeon has been saying a lot recently about independence being Scotland’s route to rejoining the EU. I wish it were true but the fact is that nations such as Spain, Belgium, Italy and Denmark with their own “UK problem” - regions wanting to break away - are going to block our entry.

Neither can we count on the support of contributing nations such as Germany, France and Holland – why would they want another economic basket case? We may rejoice in the description of Edinburgh as the "Athens of the North" but we can hardly complain if EU economists see ‘Greece II’.

Rev Dr John Cameron

St Andrews

Coronavirus passports

While the intent behind new rules to have international passengers prove their Covid-negative status before entering the UK may be to strengthen the nation’s coronavirus management, the move risks undermining public health protections.  The threat of travellers showing fraudulent negative test certificates at the border is too great without clear, internationally-recognised systems. 

Health passports offer a solution.  They are a reliable and proven system that could be put in place swiftly. In digital or paper-based form, they would provide proof of status of a negative Covid test or vaccination, enabling trust between nations and unlocking the economy and healthcare resources within the UK. 

A system of health passports would be reliable, portable, accessible, protecting personal privacy, time limited and secure – preventing fraud and being accepted by the bearers and checkers of test results and vaccination status.

It must be considered as a priority.  

Christine Macqueen                                                         

London

Delays to doses

We have had the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine and, as expected, have had texts from the hospitals delaying the second dose. That text states there are no safety concerns about the delay. That is not correct. There are concerns which relate to the mechanism of action of the vaccine. A decision has been made to risk a delayed second dose ( for which there is no data) as compared to the benefit of more people having the first dose. Be honest, admit that it is not clear cut and that in these pandemic times, risks are taken and decisions, probably more political than medicinal, have to be made.

Robert Murray

Nottingham