Jonathan Freedland’s account of the ways in which Britain has changed over the past week or so will have rung true with many people’s experience, although he omitted an important positive element that may also resonate widely (As fearful Britain shuts down, coronavirus has transformed everything, 20 March). Try as he might, David Cameron was unable to get his idea of a “big society” to gain traction – perhaps because, as he was told at the time, top-down initiatives are less likely to take off, especially if they are perceived as a Trojan horse during a period of prolonged government cuts.
When I arrived home to find a note on the doormat offering assistance with a range of tasks such as collecting shopping, or a phone call to break up a monotonous day or compensate for the lack of social interaction, I was neither dismissive nor distrustful – even though I didn’t need the services offered. That an individual, who had gone on to recruit a few friends, was offering such help is not unique, but it is a fine antidote to tales of panic-buying and food banks struggling for sufficient donations to meet demand.
Les Bright
Exeter, Devon
• Jonathan Freedland is to be congratulated for reminding us that popular myths about British particularism and the blitz are “an especially bad fit” in the case of coronavirus. However, some wartime propaganda messages may be entirely appropriate. Henry Bateman’s poster “Coughs and sneezes spread diseases, trap the germs by using your handkerchief” feels as relevant today as it did in 1940. Bert Thomas’s “Is your journey really necessary?” also deserves our attention. As for Phillip Boydell’s sinister-looking Squander Bug, I would be thrilled to see him glaring down on antisocial types who seek to hoard food, toilet rolls or paracetamol they do not need.
Prof Tim Luckhurst
Principal, South College, Durham University
• The evoking of a wartime spirit is not convincing. The second world war saw an expansion of the economy based on mass employment in labour-intensive manufacturing. The present crisis requires social isolation and the closing down of whole sectors, laying off millions of workers and disproportionately affecting those on zero-hours contracts, agency workers and the self-employed precariat. Income assistance is welcome, but much of that employment will not be recovered, and the country faces the spectre of depression and mass unemployment.
Public works schemes will be vital. Local authorities should be re-established as strategic economic agencies, with multibillion-pound programmes for a post-Covid-19 economic recovery. This includes a mass retrofitting of existing housing stock to high environmental standards, and new social housebuilding on a scale not seen since the 1950s. All empty private homes should be assessed and, where possible, brought into the social housing stock. Other employment schemes can focus on environmental clean-ups, tree-planting and identifying sites for the growing of food and local renewable energy projects. Public procurement by local authorities and other public agencies such as the NHS and schools should favour local sourcing.
Essentially, we have to move from a precarious gig economy to a more equal, social economy. This is the first phase towards local economic and environmental resilience, protection against the future shocks to globalised capitalism. And there will be more.
Steven Schofield
Bradford, West Yorkshire
• Jonathan Freedland is right to say that fear stalks the land. Yet supermarket panics and those minimising risks of infection coexist with heartening new forms of local solidarity and the exceptional bravery of health professionals.
Moreover, there are signs that sound evidence, genuine expertise and well-sourced news are beginning to find a receptive public, as shown by the government’s forced retreat from its herd immunity fantasy. Something on which to build as this dreadful crisis plays out?
Prof Philip Schlesinger
Centre for Cultural Policy Research, University of Glasgow
• Jonathan Freedland notes that the term WFH “entered near-universal usage in a matter of days”. So did WTF.
John Cranston
Norwich