Daily Express Monday, April 6, 2020 49● facebook.com
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Email: [email protected] (include your full name, address and telephone number)38 years ago (1982)
Our front page reported
aircraft carriers HMS
Invincible and Hermes had
set sail with the Royal Navy
Fleet from Portsmouth bound
for the Falkland Islands which
had been invaded by
Argentina on April 2.
The crisis led to the
resignation of Foreign
Secretary Lord Carrington
who said the invasion was a
“humiliating affront” to Britain.103 years ago (1917)
America declared war on
Germany after the
Zimmerman telegram was
intercepted by British
intelligence.
The note proposed an
alliance between Germany
and Mexico and an offer to
help Mexico regain territory
lost in the Mexican-
American War.
Meanwhile, German
U-boats patrolling the
North Atlantic had begun to
sink American ships
carrying supplies to Britain.52 years ago (1968)
Riots spread to more than
100 American cities following
the assassination of civil
rights leader Dr Martin Luther
King. Some 12,000 federal
troops were called in to
protect Washington DC from
rioters and curfews operated
in many areas. The unrest
continued until April 14.TODAY: Monday
April 6, 2020ON THIS DAY
BIRTHDAYS
TODAY’S GIGGLE
What did the banana
say to the doctor?
“I’m not peeling well.”Impressionist
Rory
Bremner is- He is
fluent in
German.
Pianist and
model
Myleene
Klass is 42.
She likes
astronomy.
Dancer Louie
Spence is 51.
He performed
with the
Spice Girls.
Film-maker
Barry
Levinson is - He
directed Rain
Man and
Good
Morning
Vietnam.
Letter of the day
Beware of boffins who try
and scare us all to death
I AGREE wholeheartedly with
Frederick Forsyth’s view in last
Friday’s Daily Express.
Like in all previous health scares
the media and governments trot out
a professor of this and that who
confirms millions of people may die
because of whatever is afflicting us.
Remember mad cow disease in
the mid-1990s, when boffins told us
tens of thousands of people would
stagger and collapse in the streets as
infected meat scrambled our brains?
That never happened.
Beware of the boffins.
Geoff Thompson,
Malaga, Spain
Send the army of benefits
claimants to harvest crops
I WAS deeply moved by the plight
of crop growers who face the
prospect of losing produce due to
lack of labour to harvest it (“Pick
for Britain: Farmers ask 90,000
Brits to help feed UK as labour
shortage risks crops”, April 2).
There is an army of workshy
benefits claimants that have never
done or will ever do a day’s work in
their lives.
Wouldn’t it make sense for the
government to step in and make
this labour available to farmers to
ease the situation?
Anthony Beckett,
Halifax, W Yorks
Testing times look like
they’re here for a while
WHEN, and if, we get this 100,000
per day virus testing (supposedly at
the end of this month), it would
take 10 days to test a million people
(“Virus pledge to test 100,000 a
day”, April 3).
The UK’s population is around
66 million, so it will be July before
the country could come out of
lockdown. Am I wrong?
Michael Cook,
Poole, Dorset
Don’t just suspend soccer
shut sport down for good
SO the precious, overprivileged
multimillionaire professional
footballers are reluctant to take cuts
in their massive salaries (“Do your
bit”, April 3).
I have a solution. Let us show
them that football is an irrelevance
in these trying times and we do not
need them.
Do not suspend professional
football, close it permanently and
see if anyone cares.
Derek Mitchell,
Headcorn, Kent
Grand gestures are easier
when you’re on £1.75m
I READ the article about Gary
Lineker’s donation of two months
of his BBC wages to the Red Cross
(“MOTD Gary donates his pay to
British Red Cross”, April 3).
Commendable. But then I read
his comment that, “hopefully, other
people in a position of relative
wealth can do something similar”.
Who’s he kidding?
The average annual wage in the
UK is around £36,000. To get paid
Lineker’s annual £1.75million BBC
salary would take the average
worker around 50 years. If Lineker
is going to make comments, we
would rather he said “really lucky”
than make stupid comparisons.
Charlie Dunn,
Cottenham, CambsBeckham’s own goal over
his new £20m penthouse
I AM in perfect agreement with
Daily Express columnist Virginia
Blackburn concerning David
Beckham’s purchase of yet another
house (“Tactless timing is all wrong,
Becks!”, April 2).
This was a serious example of
selfishness when people are going
through such a traumatic time.
He could easily donate £1million
to the NHS to help with nursing
equipment etc. Many of the other
overpaid celebrities could also help
financially.
Barbara Beckett,
Halifax, W YorksTeachers are working their
socks off during this crisis
I AM incensed after reading one of
the comments on your letters page
(“Will school closures make us
value teachers more?”, April 3).
Does the lady who wrote,
“teachers seem to be doing alright
out of this virus” not realise theextra workload this puts on them?
My son teaches in a secondary
modern in Cardiff and when
school closures were announced,
they had to quickly arrange lessons
for more than 200 children that
could be put online.
And when the children send the
work back, these have to be marked
and, if necessary, children contacted
about their work. Also, teachers can
be contacted by phone if the
children (or parents) are having
difficulty understanding it.
So instead of berating teachers,
they should be praised for their
hard work during this difficult time.
Alison Harrison,
CardiffCoronavirus has shown
Lords as expensive folly
ONE thing this Covid-19 disaster
has highlighted, apart from the
panic and greed it released, is the
waste of money thrown to keep the
House of Lords is no longer needed.
There will be more pandemics in
the future and things must change.
The Lords is an expense the UK can
do without.
How many masks and medical
supplies could be purchased with
the money saved if the “House of
Privilege” was closed for good?
William Footes,
BirminghamAll signs point to learning
a fascinating new language
I READ with interest Frederick
Forsyth’s suggestion to learn a new
language while in lockdown
(“Pretty effective way to learn a
new language”, April 3).
For the last few days I have been
“homeschooling” myself to use
British Sign Language. It is fun,
relatively easy, as after a couple of
hours I can already sign greetings
and the alphabet. It also has the
added bonus that I can practice
without disturbing the wife.
Peter Shelly,
LincolnOld mobile phone trouble
all came out in the wash
I READ the article (“Phone lost in
Thames still fine 8 weeks later”,
April 3), my commiserations to the
lady who worried she may have lost
almost 20,000 photos.
I had a similar experience a
couple of years ago. My basic clam
phone survived 39 minutes at 30C
in soapy washing machine water
while in the pocket of my trousers.
On discovering my error, I opened
up the device, blew some water out,
switched it on and it worked!
David Jones,
Milton, CambsI APPLAUD Daily Express columnist
Frederick Forsyth’s article (“Is virus really as
bad as we are being told?”, April 3).
Every year we have a flu outbreak and as he
stated, up to 15,000 die (every year around
2,000 people die on the roads) and every 10
years or so there is a “bad flu”.
Remember the Asian flu outbreak of
1958/59 and the Hong Kong flu of 1968/69 in
particular? I do, and nothing like the hoo-hah
was imposed on us all then, as we are being
subjected to at present.
This current coronavirus is merely one of
the normal cycles of nature.
Were the Great British public more robust
then, have we all become snowflakes?
Dr Hugh Anderson,
LiverpoolWe’ve beaten
much worse
than Covid-19
OUTBREAK: Students with Asian flu in the 1950s pandemicNo
FAIR play to
Bernie
Ecclestone,
becoming a dad again at- If I can stand up and
remember my own
name, if I’m lucky
enough to get to that
age, I’ll be happy.
By the time the nipper
is walking around
Bernie will be in his 90s.
Having kids certainly
keeps you youthful
(whatever doesn’t kill
you makes you stronger
when it comes to raising
our kids) and he is
young at heart.
Good luck to Bernie
and his wife Fabiana
Flosi. I look forward to
seeing the pictures of
their baby this summer.
Andrew Sumner,
OxfordI DON’T know
about 89 being
too old to
have kids, it felt like our
world had turned upside
down when we had our
eldest daughter when I
was 29 (“F1 legend
Bernie to be dad again
at 89”, April 3).
But I suppose, what
with former Formula
One boss BernieEcclestone being a
billionaire, he could
always hire some help
for the heavy lifting.
I’m in my mid-50s
now and the thought of
raising kids again makes
my blood run cold.
We’ve done our bit and
our children have left
home to start new lives.
Jason Kirwin,
BathAGED 89, IS BERNIE ECCLESTONE TOO OLD TO BE A FATHER?
Ye s
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