PHILIP Dunn (Have Your Say, April 29) observes that, “nobody doubts his personal commitment to serving the public,” when commenting on the Echo article regarding Tobias Ellwood MP’s concern over the slowness of PPE procurement.

Mr Ellwood has indeed shown personal bravery on a number of occasions as well as having helpfully supported Friends of Riverside campaigners and the call for lifts at Pokesdown Station.

However, Dr Rachel Clarke, a palliative care NHS doctor married to a former RAF fighter pilot, points out that his call for medals for NHS workers and for Red Arrow flypasts during “clap for carers” on Thursday evening is “a distraction...from dismal failure to keep staff from avoidable harm.”

She is unimpressed that in 2017 Mr Ellwood, along with Rishi Sunak, Dominic Raab, Matt Hancock and Boris Johnson, cheered as they voted down a proper pay rise for nurses.

It’s good to hear that government is now being led by the science as times change.

Taking the temperature of the Earth, as well as preventing human overheating, also needs to be a priority for our representatives.

Signing up to the Zero Carbon Dorset course being run by the Centre for Alternative Technology would be a timely leadership move for Mr Ellwood and the Cabinet. Conor O’Luby (Echo letter, April 30) highlights the damage being done to the natural world and asks for respect for the web of life, which has evolved over millennia.

He hopes for a future which respects Mother Nature and employs our talents more wisely: “This will be one great gain from this terrible crisis.”

Zero Carbon Britain signposts a roadmap to safety for us all; catalysing all-party action to improve everyone’s well-being.

SUSAN CHAPMAN

Southbourne