People would not be able to “game the system” by entering an Aberdeen postcode to book a Covid-19 test appointment local to them in Twickenham, as you report (UK Families having to ‘hack’ system to get coronavirus test, 15 September), if the system had not already been “gamed” by design.
Contrary to what Boris Johnson would have us believe, there is no such thing as a mutant algorithm. It has been actively coded that way, presumably – since few Aberdonians are likely to make the trip – to suppress take-up. The private companies paid scads of public money to build this system, and the ministers who signed off on it, have questions to answer. Preferably from the dock.
Sarah Walker
Norwich
• The solution to the testing crisis is surely the same one employed to such good effect during the exam crisis (Hancock says testing crisis may last weeks as UK hospitals plug gaps, 15 September). The National Institute for Health Protection invents an algorithm that predicts whether or not you have the virus based on age, ethnicity, occupation, social class and postcode. No testing centres, no labs, no delays, no problem.
Jem Lynch
London
• Where is Dido Harding?
Roy Hogg
Nottingham
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