Readers' letters: NHS making Covid tests more difficult

Why is the NHS making it so difficult to obtain home Covid tests?

Covid 19 Coronavirus pandemic close up government new variant full home test kit from NHS national health self testing diagnosis with swabs instructions for self isolation

Up until now one could simply pop into the chemist and walk out with a seven-test supply. When I tried this today the chemist regretfully informed me she could not give me the tests without my jumping through myriad red-tape hoops, including scanning my phone onto a QR reader, a security risk.

She offered me the alternative of calling 119 and trying my luck there. After negotiating a long and bewildering number of options, I was obliged to wait in a queue, finally getting to talk to a very helpful human being who apologised for the data harvesting and did her best to help

She told me the system demanded my phone number and email address as well as my date of birth (why?). I refused for security reasons - plus not wanting extra junk mail - and she eventually managed to tweak the system, settling for just my name and address.

I asked for several boxes to delay going through this charade again but alas she could only issue one box per applicant, postage paid by the taxpayer.

I have obeyed all the Covid rules up to now, despite the government's contempt for them, but enough is enough; when I run out of the these home tests I shall not be bothering to get any more.

Barry Tighe, Woodford Green.

Johnson is proving bad choice for PM

Working class people in England are beginning to work out what their counterparts in Scotland already knew: Boris Johnson was a bad choice as Prime Minister.

Once again, Scotland has to grin and bear a Prime Minister it didn't vote for. So, amid accusations of racism, lying and corruption, is Mr Johnson simply a victim of groomed elitism?

Readers may remember the Bullingdon Club in Oxford, an all-male students' dining club where after-dinner rituals included vandalising the very restaurants that provided copious amounts of champagne and sumptuous banquets.

This was an exclusive club for a young, privileged and out of touch elite, groomed for the higher echelons of the British Establishment. Bizarre initiation ceremonies like burning a £50 pound note in front of a homeless person were reported.

Former members included David Cameron, George Osborne and Boris Johnson. Tory grandee Lord Ashgrove broke protocol to accuse Mr Cameron of being a member of a dope-smoking group called the Piers Gaveston Society,

When young working class were never seen near these horrible groups - they were too busy earning a living and paying their way in society - is it any wonder that such an elitist and spoiled young man like Boris Johnson went on to become a Prime Minister who appears to have no sense of proper behaviour?

Jack Fraser, Musselburgh.

Train overcrowing needs overhauling

Having travelled from Oxenholme in the Lake District to Edinburgh on Sunday I can only agree with readers comments about overcrowding excacerbated by an inability to book.

In the same weekend that both UK and Scottish Governments were raising the level of concern regarding Covid infection rates, Transpennine were allowing trains to travel with passengers standing shoulder to shoulder with no opportunity to allow even basic levels of distance between passengers - often with no masks in place.

The system needs totally overhauled - even before Covid concerns are taken into consideration.

Joyce Hawthorn, Kendal.