Dear Sir,

There were two opinions recently expressed in The Royal Gazette that caught my attention regarding the way forward in 2022.

The first opinion was expressed by John Barritt in his weekly editorial: "The public interest is embodied and represented by our Government. We look once more to them to act, and to act promptly and decisively, on our behalf, based on mainstream medical science and on the best information available."

The problem I see is that the Government stopped functioning in March 2020. What we actually have is a perpetual state of emergency with a handful of people, some unelected, deciding on a whim and without scrutiny, the rules for the conduct of daily lives of 60,000-plus people.

What about the actual government? The elected representatives, front bench, back bench, the Opposition and the Senate? Are they not also there to debate and decide on what's in the public interest?

It's time the Government, using the full and proper meaning of the term, started acting again.

The second opinion is my favourite. It was expressed by Reed Young, the owner of Docksider bar in Hamilton: “Government has said that Covid is going to be with us for a long time and that we are going to have to live with it — but we’re not learning to live with it while Government continues to police the people. People need to be trusted to make their own choices. Every time there’s an outbreak we’re on this rollercoaster ride."

Mr Young is right. Over 70 per cent of the population, including me, has had the vaccine. It's over 80 per cent for the most-at-risk segments of the population. We are well past authority's immunity goals and it's time they started acting like it and stop scapegoating those who choose not to vaccinate.

May the New Year bring a return to the Old Normal.

ANTHONY DONAGHY

Pembroke