We should be praising both England and Germany for the Euros – competition only divides us

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This obsession with competitiveness is inculcated into children from an early age (AFP/Getty)

It seems to be a truth universally acknowledged that when an English team wins a game of football it should be a cause of national celebration.

Well, I’m all in favour of young people being encouraged to do sport, and of girls being treated the same as boys. But it used to be said that what mattered was not whether you won or lost but how you played the game. The women’s football game on Sunday was played well – by both teams. The winning goal was scored in extra time; it could or should have been a draw. But no, there has to be a winner. Is it not possible for the participants and observers to enjoy the beauty of the activity, without sullying it by partisanship? Actors, musicians and dancers can demonstrate their skill without needing to defeat each other – why must athletes be different?

It may seem rather a stretch to link sporting competition with society’s greater ills, but the underlying mindset can have dangerous ramifications. This obsession with competitiveness is inculcated into children from an early age. I would suggest that it is unhealthy for the individual and for society.

Competition is at the heart of capitalism, and serves a purpose, up to a point. But it is unbridled capitalism that has resulted in the huge salaries and bonuses taken by CEOs of some of the fuel companies, while many people face the prospect of being unable to heat their homes this winter. Children naturally like to win, which is all right when they are small, but they need to learn that winning doesn’t necessarily mean anything and that a better strategy for life would be cooperation, rather than competition.

Susan Alexander

South Gloucestershire

The nasty party is back

So the nasty party is back, proudly parading its prejudices, while the would-be leaders vie with each other to see who can best pander to the unfortunate views of their electorate. However, social illiberalism alone will not win this contest; there must be tax cuts too: preferably of benefit to Tory party members and paid for by future generations. Lest we forget, many of these people didn’t want Boris Johnson to resign. Meanwhile, the rest of the country grapple with the cost of living crisis, rising inflation, the impact of Brexit and standards in public life, none of which seems to matter to those choosing our next prime minister. Two things are clear, however: Conservative Party members are not fit to make this choice and neither Rishi Sunak nor Liz Truss is fit to lead us out of the mess we’re in. How did it come to this?

Ian Richards

Birmingham

Maggie’s legacy

Thatcher was a disaster, her misplaced conviction and policy mania has put the country in the gutter. Mass privatisation, coupled with mass deindustrialisation means we now own next to nothing and pay a massive premium for what was once ours. Truly pathetic. They ought to melt her statue down, she was a misguided failure as time has proven.

Dale Hughes

Address supplied

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Zelensky is a role model

I look at the picture of Volodymyr Zelensky, the leader of Ukraine, in Monday’s Independent. A man who has visibly aged decades in a few short months. The lines etched into his face show the strain he has been under as he shows the commitment to and passion for his country. He has shouldered the responsibility for the defence of his people. Then I turn and look at the wasters running this country and despair.

Bernard Cudd

Morpeth

UK’s corrupted dream

I read Sadiq Khan’s piece (We must recapture the spirit of the London 2012 Olympics, 1 August) with interest and agreement and of course with the stupendous win at Wembley by the Lionesses, this spirit has been set alight again and that feeling of unity and innate positivity, which unites us all. But I know where he is coming from, Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony was indeed a work of genius, because it celebrated diversity and history with such brio and empathy of our own unique spirit. It was indeed emblematic of a modern-facing country, safe in its identity but willing and able to be a significant player in the outside world.

This dream though has now been corrupted by this government into a pseudo, populist nightmare with its strident, strutting on the world’s stage and picking fights with all and sundry. We do all need to come together, wherever we live and be rightfully proud of our unique diversity and individuality. Of course we want every city and town in Britain to succeed and succeed well and as he states London with its own multi-culturalism should be the capital, we are all proud of.

The emphasis needs to change and the government with its two putative leadership candidates and its rhetoric on telling Europe where to get off, is counterproductive and inevitably self-defeating. A successful country doesn’t need to gratuitously big itself up at every opportunity but show some humility and willingness to be part of the bigger picture, with grace and tolerance.

Judith A Daniels

Norfolk