Daily Express Wednesday, April 8, 2020 13

Ann

Widdecombe

Pat brings

prayer to

the people

France flying

to the rescue

IN THIS time of plague
where on earth is the
church? Religious
leaders have been
notable for their silence
as people lose loved
ones, health and jobs.
At the weekend a friend
sent me a video of one
vicar, the Rev Pat
Allerton, taking to the
streets to exhort people
to sing along to Amazing

Grace and join in the
Lord’s Prayer.
It was a good parable
for the growth of the
early church for at first
nobody came out of their
doors, then gradually
they did and at the end
sent the vicar off with
huge applause. His
attitude is clearly that if
people cannot go to the
Church then the Church
will come to the people.
Make him Archbishop
of Canterbury.

LAST week I drew
attention to the plight of
hundreds of Britons
stranded in Nepal who
watched helplessly while
other countries sent in
multiple flights and
Britain did nothing.
Nobody can
reasonably expect the
Government to breathe
miracles and puff
wonders but if other
countries could send in
a succession of flights
then why couldn’t ours
manage even one?
After all, international
emergency rules bind the
French and German
governments as much
as ours.
Yet France had
already sent in two
rescue flights and,
a third being
scheduled, one
British couple went
along to the French
embassy and got a seat
on the next French flight.
They are now home,
full of praise for the
French embassy which
“was polite, helpful and
answered emails and the
phone” – and contempt
for ours.
Dear heaven, what
has it come to when
the French can do for
our citizens what
we cannot?

AUTHORITIES MUST ADOPT A SOFTER ATTITUDE TOWARDS HELPING CHILDREN IN CARE

,

’M QUITE enjoying this lockdown but I know

just how blessed I am. I actively like solitude.

I have the moors on my doorstep, a large gar-

den, a job (writing) which I can do from

home, a dependable pension, good health

and a keyworker neighbour who can drop off

fresh milk, bread and veg.

By contrast too many are living out this misery

in cramped flats, getting on each other’s nerves,

trying to keep boisterous children entertained all

day long, worrying themselves sick about money.

Others have health problems and fear that the

NHS may be too overwhelmed to treat them. Some

will have elderly parents in care or nursing homes

and simply be forbidden to see them. And nobody

knows when it will all end.

That is why we need a dose of common sense

and proportionality.

The aim, dash it, is straightforward: to stop

people getting too close to one another. So why are

the police harrying sunbathers when they are

metres away from other people?

:

HY shouldn’t people drive for more

than 10 minutes given that in a car

you can neither be infected by nor

infect anyone? Why shouldn’t people walk on the

beach? As long as people are not congregating, why

does any of it matter?

Why should not relatives fashion protective

clothing out of disposable material, put on disposa-

ble gloves and sit on the other side of the room to

visit the sick and elderly?

And now try this one: person A has been alone

in isolation for three weeks. So has person B. You

need isolate for only two weeks to be safe from

passing on any infection so why on earth should

not person A and person B social-

ise with each other in one of

their own homes, travelling

by car and not meeting

anybody else?

That is a question

every unwillingly

divided family must be

asking.

So what is the

Government’s answer?

Meanwhile, Boris, for

pity’s sake REST and

get better.

We need you.

A

READER

writes to me with an

intriguing question. He

points out that in the war

every civilian – man, woman

and child – in this country was

issued with a gas mask. So,

he asks, why not do the same

in the present emergency?

It would certainly put

us off touching

our faces!

■

I AM constantly

being told that

prisons in this

country are holiday

camps (they are,

in fact, with a few

honourable

exceptions, pretty

ghastly) and that

being locked up is

in itself not really

a punishment.

I wonder how

many will still be

saying that when

we have all been

under effective

house arrest

for months in

the comfort of our

own homes?

WELL, he is

undeniably a

million times better

than Corbyn but

Keir Starmer, the

new leader of the

Labour Party, is the

chap who began

the rot at the CPS

whereby innocent

men accused of sex

crimes were

presumed guilty

from the get-go.

It led to

prolonged anguish,

loss of livelihood

and in some cases

wrongful

imprisonment.

One does wonder

how, regardless of

political sympathy,

any member of the

male sex could

possibly vote for him.

Men to steer

clear of Keir

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LVODFNLQJLQORJLF

PRUE Leith complains, rightly, that

the adoption process has grown too

hard. She and her late husband

adopted a child from Cambodia

easily in 1984 but now that

child has had severe difficulty

in herself adopting.

Apparently race has been an issue

with her daughter variously judged

too white or too black.

Yet nobody bats an eyelid if a

couple marries and produces its own

mixed-race children, so why the

difficulty with adoptive parents?

In another instance someone was

refused as a foster parent for small

children because the council found

out at the last minute that she was

opposed to gay marriage.

This highly prescriptive

box-ticking attitude explains

why we have children in care who

could so easily be settled with

a loving family.

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