I marched for the miners in the 1980s – we have to do what is right

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

Thousands of people planning to travel by train on Boxing Day had to make alternative plans (PA Wire)

When I marched for the miners’ strike in the 1980s, it was accepted wisdom that you needed to bring down corrupt or abusive or unfair systems and fight for what was right.

It wasn’t until this past year watching Musk, Johnson, Trump, King Charles, Truss, Clarkson (who is not out of the woods, however much cover The Sun give him) etc that it occurred to me that, if you are patient enough and prepared to witness massive collateral damage and waste of resources and unnecessary heartache, worsening socio-economic inequality and the debasement of living conditions for the most vulnerable – “they” implode...

Amanda Baker

Edinburgh

In King Charles we have an intuitive monarch

I read your editorial (”May the new year indeed see light conquer darkness”, 26 December) with interest and agreement but as stated the auspices are not looking too propitious at the present time. But I think in King Charles we have an intuitive monarch, who can and does appreciate the terrible economic hardship, many men, women and children are going through. It was an empathetic Christmas day speech, finely tuned to what really matters to people.

The plethora of strikes and their continuing momentum is not going away anytime soon and the government must engage with the unions proactively with pay and conditions on the agenda. There is still much darkness in this country and throughout our troubled world. But hopefully in governments there will be less bombastic rhetoric and a willingness to mend bridges and lay foundations for a better, more equal, peaceful and united future for everyone, pierced through with a cathartic and sustaining light.

Judith A. Daniels

Norfolk

Nadine Dorries could do with some self reflection

I see Nadine Dories is quoted as saying about some of her anti-Boris colleagues that “they have no voice, no one is interested in what they will have to say, not even down at the job centre”. Perhaps she would like to go in for a little self reflection on this comment when she takes up her sinecure in the House of Lords.

Chris Brookes

Alsager

Is Rishi Sunak the new Napoleon?

Reading the latest from, John Rentoul (”Sunak is inept at politics, but luck might just be on his side” 26/12), reminded me of a quote from, Napoleon Bonaparte: “I would rather have a General who was lucky than one who was good.”

I suppose it will all come down to how long his luck holds? If we have many more “soup kitchen” incidents, I predict our new PM will meet his Waterloo sometime in May.

Robert Boston

Kent

Trains on Christmas day? Yes please!

It is an emphatic “yes”: there can be no doubt that there is a demand for trains on Christmas day and Boxing day. For many years we spent the Christmas period in Belgium, travelling by train between Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp to see friends and family. The trains were packed, and special competitive feast day fares were on offer. Result: people transferred from car journeys to train journeys, the number of accidents on motorways declined sharply, and the healthcare system was under less strain.

The only way we could travel back home from the Oxfordshire town where we celebrated with family yesterday to our home town was by taxi: an expensive business and not available to everybody. To stop drink driving, and support the emergency services and the healthcare providers, and ordinary families, please let there be trains and buses on Christmas day!

Anne- Marie Cnudde

Address supplied

King Charles should define those of no faith more positively

In his otherwise well-meaning Christmas broadcast, King Charles III tried to reach out with, “whatever faith you have or whether you have none”.

Citizens with no interest in religion may define themselves more positively: rationalists, empiricists, Darwinists.

The head of state is of course entitled to his own private beliefs; but is it inclusive to parade them in an official message where he describes the now non-religious majority by something they lack?

Neil Barber

Edinburgh Secular Society

The King is right

King Charles III is right that Christmas transcends the boundaries of faith and belief. At a time of skyrocketing fuel and food prices, we must guard ourselves from the greed of energy providers. An analogy could be drawn from birds constructing their nests in which to lay eggs, protect themselves and hide from predators and to raise offspring. All birds construct their nests to create beneficial microclimates that offer safe environments for parents and developing offspring and offer them protection from the worst effects of weather, temperature and winds. Similarly, by overcharging customers, energy providers swell their coffers and protect their own interests at the expense of ordinary people. Time to put peoples’ suffering at the heart of governmental policies.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob

London