Veterans and supporters in Belfast
Credit: CLODAGH KILCOYNE/REUTERS
SIR – Amid the anger over the collapse of charges against ex-soldiers, please remember Staff Sergeant Malcolm Banks, Royal Engineers, acting as infantry.
In 1972, reacting to a blast bomb incident near the Short Strand, east Belfast, he rapidly arrived on the scene with his men, two minutes before the IRA ceasefire was to begin at midnight. He was killed: shot in the back.
No follow-up by his men, sent to protect the public, could therefore take place, so they carried his body into the hall where he and they were stationed – in St James’s church – and laid him down. Like them and the church, he was a Catholic.
26 February 2021 • 12:01am
A teacher gives a creative writing class at Roath Park primary school in Cardiff, Wales
Credit: Matthew Horwood /Getty
SIR – Mandatory wearing of masks after the end of lockdown must be rejected. Face masks are vile, dehumanising devices. Nothing better exemplifies a continued divergence from “normality”.
When the majority of the population has been vaccinated, including all the high risk groups, masks should no longer be compulsory.
John Wainwright
SIR – There should be clarity about the law, which must be obeyed, and what is guidance, which we may follow at our discretion (“Schools told they cannot force pupils to wear masks,” report, February 25). Currently even policemen are confused.