Destructive populism is leading us towards dark times

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Britain is facing gas price rises (iStock)

At the outset of the First World War, the foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, presciently said: “The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”

More than 100 years later I am certain that if Sir Edward was alive now he would be making an equally erudite point, but with one major difference: “The lamps most assuredly will not be going out all over Europe, only here in the UK.”

And given that I am older than he was then, I fear the second part of his wise words coming to pass, literally and metaphorically, unless our politicians cease this destructive populism.

Robert Boston

Kent

Go out and buy candles? We will just blow the dust off the candles we bought for the 3 day week – another Conservative triumph.

Andrew Cleverley

Morpeth

School days

After a year and more of missed, partial or zoom lessons for school pupils, what is it that exercises directors of education? Happiness. It is not enough for a teacher to notice when a pupil’s mood deteriorates and to try to discover the reason and provide support. Positive happiness is required. Perhaps there will be lessons on “how to be happy”. Given the other extraneous material that is invading schools, it would not surprise me.

School is (normally) about work. Work requires effort that sometimes occasions stress. That is a lesson for life. Failing to achieve the desired result in a piece of work can generate disappointment. Adults experience disappointment and have to cope with it. Learning about this at school is positively beneficial. It prepares the young for their future – for however much we succeed and however much joy there is in our life, we will from time to time encounter disappointment.

We have already wrapped children in cotton wool to prevent them from having to experience disappointment if they do not succeed in competitive sports. The answer has been to take the competitive element out of sport. Tell that to Emma Raducanu. She seems very happy, having worked hard and competed against the best. What we are doing to our young is not going to prepare them for life.

Jill Stephenson

Edinburgh

Hot air

Only Boris Johnson’s hot air cabinet could oversee a CO2 shortage at a time of increasing CO2-induced climate change…

Phil Bower

Kirkby Malzeard

Climate crisis

So, we use a fossil fuel, gas, to make artificial fertilisers rather than using green, natural ways of improving the soil, and the byproduct is more carbon dioxide!

Am I alone in thinking that in these times of climate emergency there must be ways that our already too-high levels of carbon dioxide could be harnessed to provide the necessary?

Yvette Kahane

Cockermouth

Haven't they been working on “carbon capture” for many years; don't our net zero plans depend on it? Surely then such technology should capture enough carbon dioxide to supply all our needs, removing the need for us to subsidise fertiliser plants?

Nick Haward

Musselburgh