A Brexit benefit at last! It is alarming that 15 million bees could be burned (Report, 2 February), but their non-importation will be a gain for British bees. The British Beekeeping Association discourages such importation for very good reasons, eg importation of pests and diseases, and local bees are better adapted to local conditions. There is no support for this from government legislation, but maybe Brexit has done the job for us. After four years of Brexit gloom we, as beekeepers, sense a silver lining.
Bob Jackman and Mary Slater
London
• Further to Dr Deborah Colvin’s letter from Hackney (4 February), farther north in Highgate and Muswell Hill, the “white highlands” of the London borough of Haringey, over-65s have been invited to vaccination centres for the past week. This is so obviously unfair to Dr Colvin’s less privileged patients.
Honor Cooper
London
• I failed biology O-level twice, but I know that viruses mutate and come up with variants of themselves. That’s why we need flu vaccinations yearly. Yet the head of NHS test and trace appears dumbfounded at this revelation (Report, 3 February).
Charlotte Bird
Norwich
• An “influencer” (Letters, 4 February) is a social media virus that changes the way its hapless victims behave. It used to be spelled as “influenza” before it went online.
Paul Johns
Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire
• Having the checks on the British side would lower the temperature in Northern Ireland (Editorial, 4 February). It works for Dover-Calais.
Hugh Burkhardt
Nottingham
