Locked down but carrying on

My work stopped completely in lockdown, and I wasn't eligible for government help as I'm self-employed but haven't made enough in the last three years to qualify. So I reinvented myself as a genealogist and have been doing family trees to make a little bit of money to keep myself going.

That's been hard - many of the self-employed have fallen through the gaps and there's no help. So it's tough to hear of the millions going to second-home owners who get help as they can't let their properties while people like myself are struggling just to get by.

I'm trying to sell my property in Gloucestershire so that I can buy somewhere here. Not sure if I'll be able to afford anywhere though and it's not a good time to be selling. So a bit of help would have been nice.

My business was journalism (which nobody wants to pay for these days) and table tennis coaching. I doubt paid journalism will pick up and table tennis is an indoor sport so I can't see my chance of that starting up for months.

For the future I'd like to see communities pulling together as they have in lockdown, and moves to reduce car use to keep the roads safer for cyclists and to cut air pollution and noise.

I think climate change has to be at the forefront of everything: despite what the Prime Minister says, people shouldn't be rushing back to the shops to spend money, or race out to the pubs. We can't afford the cycle of needless consumerism to continue: this crisis shows what we really need - which is an NHS that's properly funded, support for people on low or no incomes, enough food and housing for everyone.

No doubt the council will be strapped for cash and the government will say it can't afford to help: that's rubbish. They have found the money to pay for HS2, a satellite system that doesn't work, a track and trace app that doesn't work - so much money has been wasted while NHS staff are paid a pittance, 50s-born women have had their pensions stolen. If the wealthy paid their taxes and weren't given tax breaks or bail-outs then we'd have money for the things that matter.

I'd like to see moves to mitigate climate change, to provide jobs for young people, houses for people who live and work in the county, and a green deal that cuts consumerism and encourages recycling and care for the environment. That includes street lighting which needs to be environmentally friendly not just bright LEDs that actually are harmful to people and wildlife.

Brexit is not going to help anyone other than those who want to short the pound, so we should put pressure on government to ask for an extension and let us recover from coronavirus first.

In terms of health care I'd like to see more NHS funding and a revamped dental service as, atm, there are no NHS dentists taking on new patients in the county. That's ridiculous and is storing up problems for those who can't afford to pay for private treatment.

In short, we have problems with unemployment, lack of social care and facilities, poverty, hunger, too many holiday homes and not enough housing, too many tourists putting a strain on our facilities - these are all things that should be addressed, with the money coming from government via taxation on the wealthy, not those who've got nothing but benefits.