SIR - with reference to 'MP issues rallying cry over coronavirus' (Craven Herald, March 19), Too late sir! And regarding our hard hit workforce and economy.....a few billion quid too late!

Warning lights were already on full flow more than two months ago when the virus spread out of China, and Britain as an Island should then have pulled up the drawbridge and maximised use of that 22 miles of water which had already played a special part in helping to spare invasion in the Second World War.

Instead though, thousands upon thousands were still being allowed to arrive in the country, completely unchecked and thousands upon thousands more were still being allowed out with a view to short shift return. School half-term skiing trips et-al, and even prior to that juncture, I personally had already been protesting from the rooftops, including me ringing BBC National Radio Five Live.

But, how can a “breeches back-side out hanging out” guy like me compete intelligence-wise with the likes of Mr Johnson and his Old Etonian cohorts? If ever there was a classic example of “locking the stable door after the horse has bolted”, then this has to be one. Correct me if I am wrong but Jersey does not have the virus, neither Guernsey or the Scilly Isles, because the people responsible for running their islands were obviously not wearing blinkers. However, so lax were we that a friend of mine, only this month returned home, completely unchecked from Germany which was already experiencing problems. And the first actual virus cases to emerge in our part of Yorkshire – one near Bradford, and two near Leeds, had just arrived from Iran and Italy respectively!

Meanwhile, so to the ‘panic buying’. Surely the super-market management should have been on guard much sooner than they did. Indeed I hear tell of a woman from Grassington – living alone – had 72 toilet rolls in her house! And, while I had to shop around for one container of bleach, this being for no other reason than mine had run-out, I then saw a former school head-teacher no less, at another venue, checking out with three, when there is only him and his wife at home! And, regarding the quest for less crowding.....why does it need two or more people to push around one trolley? No trolleys and just one basket per day would be my recommendation. Why else do people love to bring seemingly all the family when shopping elsewhere?

I called in a small shop in Skipton High Street where it was swipe-card only due to hygiene regulations. One customer already in there, but with three extra girls on board, and all of whom old enough to have stood outside the door!

No respite also when attending a funeral. Indeed, when attending that of a close friend and former long-time next door neighbour at Skipton crematorium, I decided to stand just outside the door, thus I was promptly left with a choice of either out or in.

Foolishly, I elected to go into an almost full-house with no ventilation whatsoever, and was regaled by one person coughing almost incessantly throughout the ceremony before being joined in the latter half by someone else making it a harmonic duet.

Well, at least the undertakers and council crematorium staff are still open for business, so there is one shining light amid the doom and gloom!

Roger Ingham

Skipton