Letters: The Covid inquiry is destined to be a drawn-out tale of sound and fury

SIR – Lord Frost (Comment, October 27) says the Covid Inquiry should focus on “the only important question”: were lockdowns “the right response to a disease with a fatality rate of somewhere between 0.1 per cent and 0.5 per cent”? 

This is indeed a central question, but it is not the only one. Surely, others are: why was not a single cost-benefit analysis done? And why is the inquiry expected to take such a long time?

The whole exercise strikes me as a whitewash, and in my book ranks among the top reasons for not voting Conservative.

Stuart Moore
Bramham, West Yorkshire

SIR – I was very disappointed to learn of the attitudes revealed in the recent evidence given to the Covid Inquiry concerning the discussions among members of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (report, October 20).

The insults and scorn directed towards respected professionals who offered alternative opinions were a disgrace. Now that we know the true and appalling cost of lockdowns, I suggest that those who favoured a different approach are due an apology.

Peter Johnson
Littlehampton, West Sussex

SIR – The Covid Inquiry is shaping up to be another HS2 – a pointless exercise going nowhere. Cancel it now and save the cash for something more beneficial. 

Mick Ferrie
Mawnan Smith, Cornwall

SIR – I hope that the deleted WhatsApp messages about Covid from Scottish government ministers (“Come clean over Covid WhatsApps, Sturgeon told”, report, October 28) would have revealed why they chose to diverge from UK guidance. 

I could imagine messages along the lines of: “How can we be different from Boris?” or “How could we embarrass Boris?” What I find harder to imagine is the discussion about the wisdom of placing untested elderly people into care homes.

Perhaps the judge-led inquiry will concentrate minds. However, for the families who lost relatives, I fear there is little chance of the truth being uncovered without the WhatsApp messages. As a Scot, I am once again embarrassed by the conduct of my home country.

Brian Barbour
Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland

SIR – My concern is still about how many older people’s deaths were attributed to Covid when in fact they had other conditions that were simply exacerbated by it.

A A Forsyth
Norwich

SIR – Who will chair the inquiry into the handling of the Covid Inquiry? 

Andrew Adamson
Tetbury, Gloucestershire

Rising anti-Semitism

SIR – In 1933, my great-uncle decided to move from Germany to Britain. He was Jewish and, with Hitler in power, he feared for the future. 

His three brothers, one of whom was my grandfather, decided to stay. They subsequently paid the ultimate price – along with almost all of their families. 

I have always admired my great-uncle for his clarity of thought and often wondered why his brothers did not share it. It now seems possible that I may be tested.

Anti-Semitism is once again a significant problem in Britain. The recent surge has been led by the Left. The sheer prejudice against Israel and Jews in much of our media is matched only by the blatant double standards displayed by many of our national institutions.

It seems likely that Labour will win the next election. Given the views of many Labour MPs, this cannot help the situation. While Sir Keir Starmer’s statement that Israel has the right to defend itself should be recognised, it is highly contentious within his own party. This is remarkable. For what other country in the world would such a statement be a problem? None, of course. 

The situation also reminded me of Andrew McIntosh’s brief leadership of the Greater London Council in 1981. Within 24 hours of his election, a bunch of hard-Left activists replaced the moderate McIntosh with Ken Livingstone. If a Labour government is elected, history could well repeat itself. 

L A Arnold
Swindon, Wiltshire

SIR – Earlier this year, Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, spoke to Manchester’s Jewish community at the annual Yom HaShoah event at the Bridgewater Hall, stating his sympathies regarding the Holocaust and saying that it must never happen again.

Earlier this month, he met with Israel’s deputy ambassador and was photographed after a positive trade meeting. Now, he sides with his London counterpart asking for a ceasefire. Where is Mr Burnham’s sympathy for the victims of the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel on October 7?

Belinda Kreike
Manchester
 

Children with autism 

SIR – Your report (October 29) on Sir Jake Berry’s autistic son mirrors our own experience. My seven-year-old grandson is non-verbal autistic but is the happiest child I know. His happiness is contagious and it is one of the joys of my life to look after him every week. 

More people should realise that having an autistic child is not a burden to be suffered but a blessing to be thankful for.

Dr Brian Wareing
Chester
 

Tailor-made script

SIR – My late father, a tailor, collected the metal Oxo boxes for storage of threads and buttons. Today, 39 years after he died, I still have these boxes with a depleted stock, all labelled in his version of copperplate script (Letters, October 28). His handwriting is still clear.

David Hyman
Manchester

SIR – The first letter I received from my son on his first school trip ran: “The good news is, I was not sick on the coach. The bad news is, I was sick on the boat. Love Andy”.

Trish Galli
Shaldon, Devon
 

Police priorities

SIR – Yet another minister – Chris Philp, the policing minister – has referred to some government action that will enable more officers to be “out on the beat” (Commentary, October 30).

Ministers always use this phrase and it’s nonsense. Police haven’t been “out on the beat” since the days of Dixon of Dock Green. What Mr Philp should have said is “to enable more police officers to be out running speed traps, investigating misgendering allegations, and checking up on non-crime hate speech”.

T W Wood
Colchester, Essex

SIR – The polemic from the much respected former defence secretary, Ben Wallace, against the police and its failing leadership (Comment, October 27) ignores two important factors.

First, there is the increased political interference in policing, brought about by Mr Wallace’s party with the introduction of Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs), the vast majority of whom are Conservatives. Often they are seen to be front and centre when things go well, but when things go wrong they are absent. The previous arrangement, where the chief officer was accountable to more diverse masters, plural, strengthened operational independence.

The second point is that if police leadership is poorer, it is those same PCCs who have appointed the leaders, apparently often looking for compliant careerists rather than ruthless leaders of integrity.

Political interference damaging police independence is not a new phenomenon. It was evident during my service, when chief officers were sometimes too close to those in power, but the advent of PCCs worsened and embedded this problematic relationship.

Andrew C Pierce
Barnstaple, Devon
 

Left-handed violinists

SIR – It is not true that “you never see a left-handed violinist” (Letters, October 30). Charlie Chaplin played with bow in left hand in his films, and the Canadian musician Ashley MacIsaac does so today.

Left-hand violins adapted with the strings and bridge reversed are uncommon. Teachers generally encourage left-handers to play right-handedly, and in an orchestra the scrolls of instruments need to point the same way. Thus Nicola Benedetti, who is actually left-handed, plays in the traditional manner.

Peter Saunders
Salisbury, Wiltshire
 

Inside the successful restoration of Uppark

SIR – As the family member currently living at Uppark, I take great exception to it being termed a “pastiche” (Letters, October 28).

The restoration of the house after the devastating fire in 1989 was nothing short of amazing. It is much to be admired and in most ways feels like the place it was before it was all but destroyed. How sad that it is decided that Clandon Park House will not be rebuilt.

Hatti Cossart
Uppark, South Harting, West Sussex

SIR – Some years ago, I visited Witley Court (Letters, October 28) and noted all the architectural features exposed by the ruinous fire and subsequent decay, but of far greater interest were the photographs of the house in its heyday. 

I left with a feeling of sadness that one could not enjoy what would clearly have been an outstanding tour. 

As far as Clandon is concerned, I am fortunate to have seen it before the fire and to possess a guidebook to remind me of it. I feel that viewing platforms – perhaps not terribly accessible for older people anyway – are no substitute for sensitive restoration, and are highly unlikely to attract comparable footfall.

Charles Linfield
Wroughton, Wiltshire

SIR – Cowdray House in Midhurst was largely destroyed by fire in 1793, and its ruins have been left to the elements.
 
It is an important Tudor building, and despite the fire still displays many important features of Tudor architecture. Had the fire not ruined it, it is likely that the Victorians – so keen on the Gothic – would have done so themselves.

Leave Clandon as a shell. It will still be of architectural interest.

Jennifer Hill
Haslemere, Surrey

SIR – I visited Croome House in Worcestershire, and was thrilled by the way the restorers are attempting to show the house through all its rebuilds and redecorations.

I think there is now a glorious opportunity to show Clandon Park in all its stages. The National Trust has £66 million to spend. Why not do a groundbreaking virtual reality production within the house where viewers could witness the original site, the building procedures and the various changes in style and furnishings, ending with the fire and taking off the VR glasses to see the shell that remains?
 
This would be a real history lesson that would entertain and educate.

Jane Davage
Sutton Coldfield
 

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