Pubs closing is a tragedy. They are often the lifeblood of communities

Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

I read with disgust the article by Jane Fae entitled “Pubs are shut until Christmas – but here’s why it doesn’t have to be a national tragedy”.

I note that on the news apparently alcohol sales are UP by 32 per cent – during a time when licensed premises are all closed! Alcohol consumption in a pub is controlled by the licensee, who holds a professional qualification. We have legal obligations to look after the wellbeing of our customers, unlike the supermarkets who have no control over how much alcohol is consumed and the age of the person consuming it in their own home.

Pubs are not just about drinking alcohol. Since we were closed down a month ago, I have arranged a leaflet drop across the town to try to get helpline numbers to those with no internet facility; teamed up with another local organisation to jointly coordinate the volunteer response to the crisis and help get essential supplies and medication to those who must stay at home. We have repurposed our pub, which now serves as a food hub for sourcing essential supplies (via our wholesalers) for people to order and pay for by phone or email then collect safely by appointment. We have also converted our lounge bar into temporary accommodation and one of our older customers who usually lives alone has been moved in. My partner and I have been and still are working very long hours, mostly for free, to try to support our local community wherever we can.

We are not alone. Many pub landlords are rising to the challenge: another one nearby has set up a system to provide food boxes of essential supplies to his local area. Most of us are small businesses (sole traders or partnerships); we don’t know whether we will still have a job, or even a home, when we come out of the other side of this. The hospitality sector is responsible for employing millions of people in the UK. To feel that we are expendable and of no value to society or the economy is deeply offensive.

Helen Lawrence
Hailsham

Antibac for the president

Which address should I use to make sure a crate of Dettol reaches Donald Trump as quickly as possible?

Sasha Simic​
London

Teenagers today don’t know they’re born

What nonsense about teenagers having to endure the pandemic.

My grandfather volunteered as a teenager to fight in the First World War and was seriously wounded at Vimy Ridge. He never had the luxury of a birthday cake left by his parents.

His only gift was a Bible given to him as he departed into the abyss. I still have that Bible and it’s a very poignant reminder as I watch my 20-year-old son sip his gin.

George Blackwood
Northern Ireland

Prevent a mental pandemic

On 23 March, Boris Johnson urged the UK population to stay at home to “protect our NHS and save lives”. Since then, fear has infected millions of Brits. The psychological impact of the pandemic and the measures adopted has hit both the medical staff working on the front line and the general public.

West China Hospital’s widespread online psychological intervention aims to connect mental health professionals to healthcare workers, patients and their families through internet platforms.

A similar response should be put in place by the UK government to take care of the most vulnerable. Otherwise, we will feel the consequences of this mental health pandemic for years to come.

Aglaia Freccero
BSc biomedical sciences undergraduate at University College London

Domestic abuse is running rampant

Covid-19 lockdown measures have made it even more difficult for domestic abuse victims to get time away from their abuser – leaving many trapped in an increasingly volatile situation.

The government’s “You Are Not Alone” campaign to raise public awareness of domestic abuse and signpost resources, and its forthcoming investment in domestic abuse services, is welcome but there is still much more to be done.

It is encouraging to see that government guidance for emergency injunctions – which stop abusers harming or threatening victims – now acknowledges that victims may not be able to get time or space away from their abuser to attend a telephone hearing.

However, strict legal-aid criteria leaves many victims navigating the process unrepresented. Making non-means tested legal aid available for domestic abuse cases would allow all victims access to legal support.

The government should also relax the usual “gateway” evidence requirements during the pandemic so that solicitors – as well as busy frontline professionals and doctors – can certify that an individual has experienced domestic abuse and allow them access to legal aid.

Every effort must be made to make legal aid more available and work with specialist domestic abuse services to ensure that the new funding is properly targeted and victims are safeguarded during the pandemic.

Simon Davis, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, Sophie Linden, deputy mayor for policing and crime, Claire Waxman, victims’ commissioner for London, Nicki Norman, acting chief executive of Women’s Aid Federation of England, Sara Kirkpatrick, chief executive of Welsh Women’s Aid, Sandra Horley CBE, chief executive of Refuge, Rosie Lewis, deputy director and VAWG manager at the Angelou Centre, Suzanne Jacob, OBE, chief executive of SafeLives, Olive Craig, senior legal officer at Rights of Women, Dr Nicola Sharp-Jeffs, CEO of Surviving Economic Abuse, Pragna Patel, director at Southall Black Sisters and Diana Fawcett, chief executive of Victim Support

Don’t speak for all of us

So your correspondent, John Cameron, wants the right to choose his own fate and be free to expose himself, as an elderly person, to Covid-19.

Is he also willing to renounce his right to be treated by the NHS and can he guarantee that he will not pass it on to someone else who does not wish to be exposed to it?

With the vulnerable safe, there would be no need for a lockdown of the young and their consequent economic hardship. By the time you are 70 you should have acquired the resourcefulness to live a rewarding life in lockdown. As a society we stop the young from dicing with death by running across busy roads. There are echoes of Brexit in the failure to see that constraints on individuals benefit the individual as well as society as a whole.

Jon Hawksley​
France