WE were horrified to see a photo of the crowded Bournemouth Beach, in our Sydney Morning Herald.

When such a thing happened at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in March, the state premier shut down the beach immediately. Australia and New Zealand (on today’s Worldometer website) have only four deaths per million of population, while UK has 640!

So whatever is being done seems to have worked. England is a wonderful place – choral evensongs and cream teas galore – and has given the world so much, but controlling pandemics is not one of them.

Australia has had a wartime-like cabinet, with the country’s chief medical officer, representatives of all parties & trade unions, state premiers and has made many things compulsory with police, army, fines etc. The results speak for themselves.

ELIZABETH JONES

Kirribilli, Sydney, Australia