People’s slavish obedience over coronavirus rules has brought country to its knees - Yorkshire Post Letters

Since THE virus first appeared, the words “lockdown”, “social distancing”, etc, have become an everyday part of the English language. The words “common sense” are seldom heard.

People’s slavish obedience to directives from on high have brought the country to its knees economically with the total destruction of the travel industry, likewise the hospitality business and the 
eye-watering debt brought about by “furloughing” – another word most people had never heard before.

Who has this most affected?

Children and young people who have lost, so far, six months of education that cannot be replaced and which the left wing unions want to continue, not for the sake of children but their own political ends.

Teenagers and young people locked up for weeks on end when given the chance to escape go somewhat mad.

There is no surprise there as young people have always thought themselves invincible and are hell-bent on making up for lost time.

What is annoying is the sanctimonious, smug, self-righteous, reaction of some “oldies” who cry – we socially distance, we stay apart, we wear masks, etc, etc (I am 79 incidentally).

A few home truths are now appearing. Public Health England has been proved to be incompetent and a member of a sub-group of the Scientific Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) Professor Mark Woolhouse has written that “lockdown on a global scale was a monumental mistake” and that “it was a panic measure” and at the time “we couldn’t think of anything better to do”.

Another member of a sub-group of SAGE, Professor Robert Dingwall, writing in May said: “We should recognise that measures intended to reassure can increase fear.

“Social distancing is a good example: neither the two-metre rule nor mask wearing have much, if any, scientific justification”.

This Government has made many mistakes, but brainwashing people to be frightened of one another has been highly successful.

In the world of business when mistakes are made the priority is to put it right, or shareholders can clear out the bosses – in Whitehall there is just one priority – cover up any mistakes.

We are now seeing this in the mistakes made over Covid and it is costing us all countless billions and heaven knows how many jobs and livelihoods.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor