Evening Standard comment: Back our food charity to support Londoners | We need our EU friends | The right to exercise

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The Evening Standard is here to help the people of London through the coronavirus crisis. We’re reporting what’s happening, we’re explaining what it means, and we’re standing alongside those fighting to help those in the greatest need.

That’s why today we are proud to launch our appeal to get food to poor, elderly and vulnerable Londoners — people who are finding it hardest to cope with what’s happening.

We’re working with The Felix Project, a charity we have been championing since 2016, which redistributes surplus food to those who need it.

Even in normal times, life in London is hard for many people. We live in one of the richest cities in the world, packed with amazing restaurants and shops, but the work of The Felix Project has shown that many people struggle to eat properly.

Some can’t afford it. Others, living on the streets or in temporary accommodation, can’t cook.

Charities such as The Felix Project supply around 22,000 meals a day — including to children who can’t get free school meals now schools have shut.

So today we’re asking businesses, charities and you, our readers, if you are in secure work and can afford it, to back The Felix Project as it works with the newly formed London Food Alliance to co-ordinate surplus food distribution across London.

The aim by next week is to have hubs set up in every London borough to distribute food, with the first getting to work next week.

One positive thing to come out of this terrible situation is the army of volunteers who stand ready to help those in need.

The London Food Alliance will be working with them to get meals out to people’s homes.

By standing together now, we will look after those who need help the most.

Listen to today's episode of The Leader podcast:

We need our EU friends

We're not in the EU now. But that doesn’t mean we can’t co-operate with our closest neighbours and friends to get through the coronavirus crisis.

So there’s something odd about our Government’s failure to respond when the EU asked if we wanted to join a shared plan to boost the supply of ventilators. We’re told that officials missed messages inviting Britain.

In the middle of a frantic crisis, that might happen although it shouldn’t have done — after all, the invitation was also made publicly.

What’s also worrying is a sense that countries are closing in behind their borders rather than reaching out to help each other solve a disaster which is hitting every single person and every economy on the planet. It might turn out that the EU plan isn’t needed by the NHS.

But we certainly ought to be talking. In the aftermath of the Second World War new bodies such as the UN, the WHO and Nato, as well as later the EU, sought to help countries overcome great challenges together. Some of that spirit has taken a back seat recently.

But beating coronavirus will take cooperation not competition. Our leaders should work together, be seen to do so and be proud of it.

The right to exercise

We all accept the need for rules to enforce social distancing. Many basic freedoms have been suspended. The better we co-operate, the sooner restrictions can be lifted.

The police are needed to enforce these rules but they should do so with common sense and proportion.

Derbyshire police have been flying a drone above beauty spots and posting the results on social media, criticising people for taking exercise. That’s a misjudgment, as the former justice secretary, David Gauke, pointed out this morning.

When crowds of people flood to National Parks, as happened last weekend, it’s impossible to keep them a safe distance apart and the authorities are right to act. But a lone dog walker is not a threat to anyone.

Access to green space is precious and hard to find for many of us right now. Shaming people is a mistake.

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