Robin McKie’s article sounds the alarm bells about global health and our inability to control airborne pathogens (“Which virus will cause the next pandemic? It’s the flu, scientists say”).
We rightly view the spread of H5N1 and the risk it poses to humans with concern, but we still have not applied the hard-won lessons learned from Covid 19. Although all authorities and experts now (belatedly) admit that Covid spreads through the air, very little has been done to make indoor spaces safer for all of us, and especially for the clinically vulnerable, for whom shops, workplaces, restaurants and even clinical environments have become areas of high risk.
With new Data from the Office for National Statistics As 2 million people report a long Covid-19 crisis, we must wake up to the need to improve indoor air quality through better ventilation, filtration or UV disinfection. This should be high on the agenda of the negotiating team drafting the pandemic deal, which will be unveiled at the World Health Assembly next month. But it is silent on this essential public health protection. Without a global commitment to action (and responsibility), we will remain vulnerable to waves of deadly and debilitating diseases, with disastrous consequences for society, the economy and healthcare.
Desmond Whyms
Le Dresnay, Côtes-d’Armor, France
Marching to a different tune
Fifty years ago I was in Portugal (“How Portugal’s participation in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest toppled the country’s fascist regime”). Two weeks in a new job, driving to Faro to pick up my wife and daughter at the airport. Greeted by tanks on the runway blocking planes from landing and Angolan soldiers in mirrored sunglasses brandishing AK47s in the arrivals hall.
There was nothing on the radio about a pop song associated with the revolutionary left. The call of the revolution was A Life on the Ocean Wave, the anthem of the Royal Marines. I have no idea why. It was played repeatedly on the radio on April 25, 1974, and for many days afterward. Whenever rumors of a counter-coup spread, A Life on the Ocean Wave was broadcast on state-controlled radio, mobilizing farmers in the Alentejo and Algarve armed with shotguns to block roads to Lisbon and students armed with AK47s in Lisbon were mobilized to run around. through the streets in army trucks. Every time you heard the national anthem, it was time to stay home with your head down.
Christopher Walton
Launceston, Cornwall
No one wins with negativity
Stewart Lee is spot on (“Andrew Neil needs to be more Vorderman, less Voldemort”). The reason this world is such a mess is entirely due to greed, ignorance, loss of faith in ourselves, poverty, over-cultivation and worship of money. The humanitarians are doing their best to climb mountains. The charities save lives. George Monbiot raises awareness of the responsibility we all have to care for the planet.
What we all have is the ability to create. When we choose positivity and good works, we prosper. When we wallow in negativity, no one wins. Ultimately, we all have the opportunity to choose life, health and happiness over death and destruction. The only real power we have is our signature and our ability to vote. Think about your own conscience and your own family and friends. Don’t accept the lies that are told without checking the facts. The world can do better.
Julie Taylor
Kippax, Leeds
The Observer has historically been the vehicle and impetus for many changes for the better in Britain. Couldn’t you initiate a movement to invite Stewart Lee to take charge of everything?
Brian Smith
Berlin
Denim, legacy of the empire
“Does this painting prove that denim is 200 years older than Levi’s?” your article asks. Denim is a legacy of empire. The origins of denim are far from Western, but go back to India in the 16th century, to the port of Dongri, where we get the word dungarees. Sailors on the ships using Dongri wore this hard-wearing blue fabric and the production of cotton and indigo in this part of the world was mainly done by slave labor. This was beautifully depicted by The Singh Twins in their piece entitled Indigo: the color of India as part of their exhibition Slaves of Fashion (2018).
Jenny Payne
Colchester
Change in debt collection law
Given the fundamental principle of English law that a person is innocent until proven guilty, debt collectors should not be required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt their allegations against people they claim owe money (“Unregulated ‘ identity tracers’ harass people because of debts) they owe nothing”)? One recalls the tragic case of Beryl Brazier, who was falsely accused and harassed by such an agency over a debt and was driven to suicide in 2012. While the regulation of debt collectors is welcome, immediate legislative change is needed.
Chris Waller
Bristol
Why the silence about Qatar?
Thanks to Kenan Malik for mentioning the closure of the Congress for Palestine in Berlin on April 12 (“The left is silent, the right, the right is silent. But censorship keeps us from pushing for change”). As a German citizen, I find it hard to believe how little attention was given in the German media to the closure and muzzling of Yanis Varoufakis. I also find it surprising how little protest there is against the state of Qatar, which is happy to accommodate the leaders of Hamas. Where are the calls to cut ties with Qatar because of its support for Hamas? Or is it that there is simply too much capital involved in Qatar and that Qatar is therefore beyond criticism?
Dr. Britta Kleinsorge
Cambridge
A royal development too far
Rowan Moore’s article on Faversham is not the first and I fear it will not be the last (“Is Kent ready for the next Poundbury?”). The city has grown enormously in recent years; in fact it is surrounded by new developments. I have always respected King Charles’ foresight on environmental issues, but building a Poundbury Mark 2 on the border of our town, using even more productive land, is a travesty. A point has been made with Poundbury about what new developments could be like. Leave it at that.
With regard to His Majesty, he is not a property developer and nor should he be.
Carol Isern
Faversham, Kent
Warring families
(“When royals intermarry, it brings an unexpected peace dividend”). However, the case of Queen Victoria and her grandchildren proves otherwise; it did not stop Russia and Germany from going to war in August 1914, followed by Britain.
Andrew Hudson
Ulverston, Cumbria
Elementary, my dear Rodney
In ‘Revealed: the next Sherlock Holmes author, with a twist in the story’ Vanessa Thorpe compares the longevity of Holmes and his deer stalker to the now unrecognized ‘boxing gloves of Rodney Stone’ (another Doyle hero). Not surprisingly, Stone was a bare-knuckle fighter. I should know; I was named after him by my late father, Fleet Street legend, Peter Wilson.
Rodney (Steve) Wilson
Wantage, Oxfordshire
