I take my hat off to the two letter writers in the Echo Monday 27 December, speaking up on the Covid at Christmas issue.

I am dumbfounded that so few have had anything to say on this ‘laissez faire’ gaping lack of government clarity on the whole issue.

The UK has the second highest number of daily Covid cases in the world.

Over the past week 90,000 to 130,000 new infections a day.

We are second only to the USA, running at 230,000 infections a day.

The USA with a population near five times larger, 340 million to our 68 million, shows how even more dire our infection rate is.

But our government takes no effective action.

Every country in Europe has taken major action – curfews, closing nightclubs, limiting gathering, making masks mandatory, rolling out Covid passports, and full lock-downs.

And this includes Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, all with clear restrictions to protect the public and health services.

But not the UK government for England, so left behind.

As we were at Covid outbreak January - not March - 2020.

I believe we have the worst floundering government this country has ever had.

Raw politics acting in the best interest of the party in power.

Not following science as government insisted they would do.

Not listening to our top epidemiological scientists crying out for “circuit breaker” lockdowns at this the most infectious time of the year.

But no not at all. Johnson led UK government bottling out on doing the right thing, to placate the right wing of what is already a deeply right wing party.

Stuart Marshall

Alexandra Road, Poole