Liz Kendall is right – let’s end the ‘blame culture’ around benefits

Letters to the editor: our readers share their views. Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

The secretary of state for work and pensions Liz Kendall (Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publis)

Liz Kendall is right to call for an end to the “blame culture” around benefits. People who receive welfare often have no choice in the matter, and the meagre amount they receive every month is barely enough to help them keep their heads above water. Not that you’d know that from listening to the right-wing press, who seem to think that the government is funding people to sit at home playing video games in their state-subsidised mansions.

As somebody who has been on benefits before, I assure you, there is little we want more than to be allowed to live our lives in dignity – what kind of country are we if we cannot lend a hand to those in need?

Stephen Bloom

Canterbury

Fighting extremism must be a priority

Occasionally, politicians do try to do the right thing, as with home secretary Yvette Cooper, who is going to crack down on people “pushing harmful and hateful beliefs” and fight extremism.

Extremism is not unique to Britain, but the response to the Southport knife attack prompted by false information on social media must be condemned and fought.

The traditional media – newspapers and TV – are normally reliable, both as a result of their journalists but also legislation. The problem is that the same cannot be said of the numerous social media platforms which are becoming more commonly the only source of news. It could be suggested that Truth Social is misnamed given some of the information it carries.

If the truth is the only news available, then there will be less incitement to violence – but how can this truth-telling become the standard? Maybe it’s time to switch all of the social media platforms off, maybe for a week the first time.

Listen to the truth and spread the good word – but not online.

Dennis Fitzgerald

Address supplied

Women should wear men’s jeans

Having read Ellie Muir’s recent article about phone straps and the restrictive nature of women’s clothing, I implore all my sisters to make the obvious and rational decision to buy men’s jeans in future, to ensure more than a “pocket handkerchief” space to carry things.

Now of pensionable age, I have worn jeans most of my life, and the freedom to carry an assortment of items about my person – tissues, poo-bags for the dogs, keys, money, phone – without having to use a handbag is one of the joys of not giving a damn. And men’s jeans are often more comfortable and better made than those for women.

Add in the fact that a fitness tracker on your phone is unlikely to accurately measure steps if clutched underarm or gyrating wildly like a swing ball set on a lanyard instead of being held securely near your hips, and men’s jeans win out every time.

Shane Malhotra

Maidstone, Kent

Only the lonely

Of course the young suffer from loneliness more so than older people! They are all stuck to their mobiles and do not see and feel the world around them. Their horizons are limited.

Enjoying the simple joy of life is an old-fashioned concept to them. Their senses are limited, and this is why they are lonely. Do they ever read a book or just go for a long walk with friends around the countryside? Visit a museum? No, to all of this.

They are blind to the world around them and walk around only looking at their mobiles and see nothing. How boring – not to mention sad.

At 93 I am still stimulated by the colours of nature or listening to beautiful classical music which is always open on the radio as background music in my flat.

I remember England as it used to be. It was unheard of to read about young people stabbing each other. Don’t tell me the world is a better place today than it was in the sixties and seventies.

E Christe

Holmfirth, West Yorkshire