No one is immune to the risk of coronavirus

I am sure most people, young or old, do not want to endanger the lives of their family, friends, or others.

Yet, this is exactly what they are doing when they disobey, or ignore, the rules – which are designed to protect us all from catching, or passing on, this deadly virus.

If you don’t like social distancing, then don’t go to places where there are lots of other people in close proximity.

If you don’t like wearing a mask, then don’t go to places where they are obligatory.

And, if you are exempt from wearing one (because of some medical condition), then I suggest you must be particularly vulnerable, so should avoid places where there are others who may infect you.

If you don’t want to give your personal details for the purpose of track and trace when you go to a place that asks for them, then stay away. and don’t blame anyone but yourself if you find out too late that you have been infected by a contact.

The virus it still out there. It can infect any of us. We may not feel ill with it, but we can still be a carrier and pass it on to others.

Or we may become ill and could die from it. Although the elderly, and those with other medical conditions, are more prone to suffer severely from it, young people can also die from it.

No one is immune.

Malcolm Morrison

Retired Orthopaedic Surgeon

Prospect Hill

Swindon

Organised crime a threat to our farms

As a Wiltshire farmer I am fully aware that rural crime has been on the increase in our county.

The figures from the NFU Mutual insurance company confirm this. They show a staggering doubling of rural crime to £1m worth of theft in Wiltshire over last year.

The loss of key equipment vital to farm operations is bad enough, but criminal activity raises the risks of more inevitable devastating events such as the brave intervention of PC Harper who lost his life trying to frustrate the attempted theft of a quadbike.

And for farmers the ‎theft of livestock is in many ways even worse than equipment.

There is the financial loss to the farmers but also the emotional impact as it takes years to establish herds/flocks and not knowing what has happened to the animals is distressing.

We need to recognise that, just like drug dealing and people trafficking, livestock rustling is increasingly becoming part organised crime.

The livestock stolen by these gangs enters our food chain through the black market and undermines welfare and food safety standards.‎

This criminal activity is a serious threat to us all.

So I welcome moves coming next month to strengthen Wiltshire Police's rural crime team.

The strengthening of our self help "Farm Watch" should also be a priority. But on their own these moves are not enough to protect our farms.

Government must take organised, rural crime far more seriously‎.

For example the introduction of an affordable DNA livestock database would enable the "track and trace"‎ of all meat.

That would put both a serious barrier in the way of this crime.

Our farmers, food chain and police officers deserve proper protection‎ and the resources to tackle this rural crime wave.

Liz Webster

North Wiltshire Farmer

Lib Dem Prospective Police and Crime Commissioner for Wiltshire