When the government’s coronavirus guidance is this contradictory, you can’t blame people for panic-buying

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy “What’s happening to us?” That’s what one of my friends asked having posted a picture of supermarket shelves denuded of loo roll on Facebook. “While I think people don’t need to panic-buy and should just shop normally, I’m not sure the government can guarantee all food supply in all instances,” said one supermarket source. Combine that with ministers’ history of incompetence, would you put your trust in the government’s ability to set aside short-term political considerations in favour of rising to a challenge like this one? Coronavirus: British Airways cancels flights to northern Italy amid Foreign Office advice confusion Recall that your chance of succumbing to the virus if you’re otherwise healthy is very small, while there were 27,820 people killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents just in the year to the end of June 2019.