I’m older than Joe Biden – I know that age doesn’t stop you from doing your job

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

Joe Biden’s fitness for office, on the basis of his achievements in his first term as president, appears justified (AP)

The piece by Hunter Davies in The Independent should be read by all those trying to oust Joe Biden.

Like Hunter, I am over 80. At 83, I spend my time being part of the management committee of our community shop, as a founder trustee of a successful arts festival, as a trustee and committee member of our local theatre group for which I am directing their September production and writing music for it. I am also a councillor for a large parish.

In my spare time, I run a one-man design and photography business. And yes, I take a handful of tablets each day to keep the rheumatoid arthritis and other less painful challenges at bay, but being old doesn’t stop you from doing your job or being ambitious to achieve more.

Bob Sampson

West Sussex

Trump must not be gifted the presidency

Thank you, Hunter Davies, for the impressive and more than hopeful piece on Joe Biden.

Whatever malfunctions and necessary repairs may arrive as the years advance, the prospect of a progression through one’s eighties offering ongoing and very pleasant experiences was an inspiration. Most would be delighted to make the trip with the same appreciation and accomplishments. They lend an assured confidence to Davies’ assessment of Joe Biden’s fitness for office which, on the basis of his achievements in his first term as president, appears justified.

However, in the eyes of the American electorate, Joe appears to be declining in more ways than one. For voters in the good old US of A, image is important.

Regrettably I can see Biden standing down. In the interests of Western democracy and it’s freedoms, would-be dictator and Valdamir Putin-puppet Donald Trump (himself a man often showing his age with mumbled nonsense and a more than questionable suitability for high office) must not be gifted the presidency.

The game has changed and chance has already afforded him a significant boost.

David Nelmes

Newport

Nationalisation now

The suggestion that we will have to wait till 2032 for Avanti West Coast to go into public ownership is just not acceptable. The quality of service provided has been dire for years and the extension of its contract by the last government defied comprehension.

There is a cast iron case for terminating the contract now.

John E Harrison

Lancashire

Why should the poor subsidise the wealthy?

Surely a policy that determines that no one pays more than £86,000 for their social care beggars poorer people at the expense of the wealthy.

A better policy would be to ringfence a modest sum and say that we pay our own way until we reach that amount in our savings account. As it is, poorer families have little incentive to save at all. I object to very wealthy people being subsidised by the poor.

Joanna Pallister

Durham City

Racism is a virus

Racist sentiments are usually acquired during childhood, sometimes even passed down generationally like a communicable virus/sickness. It may be further cemented by a misguided, yet strong sense of entitlement.

Especially if it’s deliberate, rearing one’s very impressionable young children in such an environment of baseless contempt and overt bigotry amounts to, in my opinion, a formidable form of child abuse.

Parents should really do their kids a big favour by not passing on such destructive sentiments and perceptions. It fails to prepare children for the practical reality of an increasingly diverse and populous society and workplace. It also makes it so much less likely those children will be emotionally content or (preferably) harmonious with their multicultural and multi-ethnic/racial surroundings.

Not surprisingly, the earliest years are typically the best time to instil and even solidify diversity-positive attitudes and social-interaction life skills/traits into very young minds.

Frank Sterle Jr

White Rock