For my daily lockdown exercise I recently had a cycle around York city centre. The tranquility was eerie and remarkable, but what struck me more was how fresh and clean the air is.

One bus crossed my path and the foul taste in the air at its rear contrasted more than ever, reminding me how much we are conditioned to accept continuous polluted air during normal times.

A major event often defines the decade. September 11 and the Iraq war defined the 2000s, the austerity following the financial crisis defined the 2010s and it seems likely that the consequences of this Coronavirus crisis will define the 2020s.

This decade the NHS will get long overdue recognition, people will value their local shops once again and local manufacturing also.

The 2020s was already on track to be the decade that renewable energy developments make us realise that burning fossils for our energy needs is simply dumb. By the end of the decade, idling a fossil car outside a school will be as socially unacceptable as smoking in a restaurant is today.

By 2030 vehicles with an exhaust pipe will seem archaic and disgusting. My ride around York today was a welcome preview of this clean air future.

David Finch, Holgate, York

The world will change - but for better or worse?

In time scientist will get the better of this nasty coronavirus and the world will wake up to the changes it has brought upon us.

We will discover good and caring neighbours and new friends. We will have a boom in babies and divorces, we will have an increase in obesity and a class of super fit people.

We will have thousands of vehicles that don’t start because of lack of use.

We will all have immaculate houses and gardens, and the hedges and side roads will be full of dumped rubbish.

We will have millions of people giving up on foreign travel. We will soon forget the great work done by Boris Johnson when the taxes rise to pay for the pandemic.

Will the NHS and other emergency services be still held in such great esteem when this tragedy is over and the costs of running the NHS strike home?

Will the world change into a better place or will we slip back into our old selfish self-centred ways?

Only time will tell.

DM Deamer,

Penleys Grove Street,

Monkgate, York