THE announcement that coronavirus has now spread to the Bournemouth area is final confirmation of our government’s abject failure to take effective action.

In the wake of disgracefully reckless decisions to endorse HS2 high speed rail and Chinese firm Huawei’s stranglehold over our telecom industry, mismanagement of the current health crisis has been something only to be expected from the pack of pig-headed, posturing imbeciles running the political show in Westminster at the moment.

It was blindingly obvious from the get-go in mid-January that at least 50 specialist emergency testing clinics up and down the country needed urgently to be established, all flights from China immediately suspended, all visitors from Asia not only tested on arrival at the six London and six busiest regional airports (all of which should have been regularly cleaned and decontaminated from that point on wards) but also required to report for re-testing at these health clinics directly after the two week incubation period.

From early February, all people from the rest of the world (myself included when I returned from America on February 28) should have been subjected to the same stringent requirements on arrival here, all flights from Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries suspended and all cruise ship voyages from British waters cancelled.

Instead, the authorities have engaged in a classic case of wishful thinking and do nothing ‘pass the buck’ irresponsibility – in short a total abdication of leadership, one illustrated by pathetic appeals for public cooperation together with utterly impractical admonitions to constantly wash our hands, avoid hand shaking, self-isolate and so on, while at the same time not being upfront about the national origin of those infected.

The need for martial law and a national government becomes ever more apparent.

JEREMY MAY

Julyan Avenue, Poole