Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s use of the term “ambush” in relation to lockdowns conjures up an image of a swashbuckling superhero riding in to save the world. It is nauseating that Lam said she was thrilled with the success of these ambushes. The people who were forcibly locked down are not criminals, nor have they breached any social norm – they only have the misfortune of living in cramped flats, the responsibility for which must be laid squarely at the door of the chief ambusher and her administration. The ambushed are treated with contempt, who deserve no compensation for the damage to their security of employment or businesses that the lockdown caused. Surely the flip side of following a government order should be to have a reasonable expectation that you will be compensated for doing so? While the chief executive used her power to lock down a whole community, she somehow can’t exercise that same power to prohibit employers from docking the pay and benefits of people who couldn’t go to work because of her decision. She and her advisers have managed to tar a whole community, with a touch of racist ignorance and insensitivity thrown in for good measure. It will take months for those affected and their businesses to recover, if they ever can. The rest of us have a moral responsibility to help those affected recover from the damage done to them. I suggest all good-minded people make a deliberate point of going to the previously locked down areas to buy in shops and eat in restaurants there – that will not only help those affected by lockdowns economically, it will also send a powerful message to the swashbucklers. Lee Faulkner, Lamma