Hampstead Heath

• HEALTH secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News on Sunday that sunbathing is “against the rules” while the UK is under lockdown. But this is not set out anywhere in the gov.uk/ coronavirus rules.

Later news pushed the message that if we continue in this irresponsible manner all our parks, even Hampstead Heath, may be shut down.

It’s all very well for ministers and medical experts to impose these draconian measures, when most will have gardens and cannot imagine what it’s like for people living in tower blocks with no outside space to talk of, expected only to walk around their treeless blocks.

New Irish research has highlighted the key role vitamin D plays in preventing respiratory infections, which could have important implications for the fight against COVID-19, reducing antibiotic use, and boosting the immune system’s response to infections.

The British Dietetic Association’s advice on COVID-19 is that “sunshine, not food, is where most of your vitamin D comes from”. Yet the government appears to want to keep us in the dark under lock and key.

Construction companies continue to flout social distancing; cashiers in supermarkets are obliged to encounter customers at close quarters without any protection; the number of tube trains has been drastically reduced resulting in overcrowding; the government cannot even protect their health care worker; while sunbathing is being dubbed the biggest evil now risking people’s lives.

Provided we obey the clear and simple rule to keep two metres apart, it should not matter what we are doing, and the government has no excuse to lock up London’s vital green spaces.

CLARA WEISS
NW3