Boris Johnson’s treatment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe should have been a warning to us all

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The scenes in Bournemouth described by James Moore in his article must have cheered Boris Johnson no end as he saw the instructions he gave the nation during the daily Covid-19 briefing on Tuesday (“People need to enjoy themselves... I want to see bustle”) were being followed precisely.

It is obvious that Johnson just wants to be loved as the class clown. He is too lightweight to read and absorb a brief, create a clear objective plan and then implement it. These personal shortcomings were evident as foreign secretary, when Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was imprisoned in an Iranian jail and he went on to falsely accuse of her of “training journalists” without thinking before he spoke. Now with Covid-19, similar shortcomings will have an effect on the lives of millions, not just a single innocent woman.

But it doesn’t end with Covid-19, as in six months’ time this lightweight buffoon with his numerous empty claims about our world-beating track and trace system, and how others countries envy our success and are looking to us for leadership, will be responsible for making and implementing trade deals across the globe. As Moore’s article says, Johnson and his cronies “have made us the jackass of the world” so why should we expect them to take us seriously?

John Simpson
Ross on Wye

Isolation dangers

Brexit in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic is like just jumping from a high mountain without a parachute. The pandemic has opened our eyes to the invincibility of invisible enemies that can transcend borders and cause grave social and economic mayhem. We are faced with myriad challenges from cyberspace to clean energy, sustainable and healthy cities, access to clean water and sanitation, plastic pollution, fresh air, for security, access essential treatment and medications, preparedness to health emergencies, terrorism and climate change. All are global in nature and demand global solidarity, unity and inclusivity instead of fragmentation and segregation.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob
London NW2

Different approach?

I observe with interest the relative performances of Keir Starmer in respect of Rebecca Long-Bailey, and of Boris Johnson vis a vis both Robert Jenrick AND Dominic Cummings.

“Strong and stable” seems appropriate to the leader of the opposition, whereas “weak and wobbly” is the pattern of behaviour adopted by Boris Johnson.

Arthur Streatfield
Bath

Spotlight-loving

It’s not the day of the week for lifting restrictions that matters to Boris Johnson; it’s the date and the subsequent tabloid headlines of Fourth of July Britain’s Independence Day.

Playing to the gallery is all that matters to him

S Lawrence
Enfield

Warped priorities

The chancellor of the exchequer, Rishi Sunak, blocked a £5bn plan for private hospitals to reduce the backlog in NHS waiting lists, and unless the deal is extended people with cancer will die. NHS hospitals will not be able to cope with the fast-growing backlog of patients that could grow up to 10 million by the end of the year.

The backlog in NHS waiting lists of over a million patients now waiting for more than four months for cancer treatment and the 60 per cent reduction in urgent referrals is a national disgrace, while the Treasury has given £1.8bn of public money bailouts to four airlines (Easyjet, Wizz Air, British Airways and RyanAir) despite being one of the most polluting industries in the world and responsible for spreading the coronavirus pandemic.

Resuming air travel is likely to spread a second wave of coronavirus infections, again disrupting cancer treatment and investigations of millions of patients as the NHS will not be able to cope with a second wave of Covid-19 and the winter crisis.

While the airlines are still lobbying the Treasury for a sector-wide bailout, cancer patient victims of the pandemic whose treatments and investigations have been cancelled so as not to overwhelm the NHS continue to wait in anguish unnecessarily.

Should the airlines receive billions of taxpayers’ money while cancer patients are given early death sentences?

Jeannette Schael
Hampshire

Common sense

Given this glorious weather I love to get out for a ride on my motorcycle. Even in this heat, I always don my full motorcycle regalia, ie leathers, as it offers me the utmost protection if things should go wrong. Yes, it would be great to just wear a T-shirt, shorts and sandals but I much prefer to lose sweat rather than skin.

My point is that as a responsible adult, well, most of the time, I make the decision to protect myself from injury as much as I can. So why should it be any different when I decide to go to the beach or to a pub? Surely it’s up to me to decide whether I face any sort of danger. As it happens at the age of 70 myself and my wife have underlying health conditions so we will be doing neither but again that is our decision.

I totally agree with your premise that we do not want to see a second wave of this virus, so we as adults will be continuing to self-isolate from our kids and grandkids.

Johnson has chosen to revive the economy by going for herd immunity but my wife and I are not falling for it. We just hope that many of those currently thronging our beaches will wake up and smell the coffee because if they don’t many more lives will be lost unnecessarily.

Ted Edwards
Eastbourne