IF THE wartime government’s approach to the horrendous problems facing it had been anything like the way today’s politicians, scientists and medical experts dealt with Covid we would never have finished up on the winning side.

The nation at that time was not faced, as we were when the virus arrived in this country, with nightly announcements of gloom and doombeing proclaimed by, among others, the chief medical officer, the chief scientific adviser and the Prime Minister.

In those days, before the advent of television, millions went to the cinema at least once a week where, apart from feature films, they were also shown documentaries made on behalf of the government by the GPO Film Unit.

While Covid was portrayed in such a way that it scared the living daylight out of millions of people, and is still having a detrimental effect on the mental health of so many, these wartime pictorials were just the opposite.

They were designed to install calm and reassurance at a time of great uncertainty, with the aim of presenting a picture of the United Kingdom weathering the storm. They often didn’t pull punches but, unlike the way in which the virus was portrayed, the overriding message was that everything would work out for the best in the end, that there would be light at the end of the tunnel even if the length of it was unknown.

In my opinion the Prime Minister, whoever she or he may be in September, needs to pop out and buy a copy of a DVD 2-disc set titled "If war should come" and devote a few hours of their time to watching it.

Hopefully they should finish up with a far better idea of how to handle a national crisis than their predecessor did.

I wonder, do Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss read The Argus?

With a bit of luck, they do.

Eric Waters

Lancing

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