Cancelled appointments only show the importance of junior doctors

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

NHS junior doctors picket outside Southend University Hospital in Essex last week (PA)

Reports that around 200,000 NHS appointments had to be cancelled due to strikes show exactly how vitally important and necessary the roles of junior doctors are – especially after the damaging effects of 10 years of “austerity” and then Covid.

How upset, frightened, and inconvenienced people are by cancellations is easy to tell by their reactions. But to hear then that some junior doctors are paid £14 per hour – as qualified professionals who have completed a medical degree and foundation training – should encourage us to support them even more.

Jenny Backwell

Hove

India is taking advantage of Ukraine

May I suggest that the government puts pressure on the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group to suspend India, temporarily, at least, from the Commonwealth? India’s current stance with regard to Russia is pretty nauseating, to say the least. The Indian prime minister is clearly taking advantage of the situation in Ukraine to cosy up to Russia, and strike deals which will not only benefit him, but also give support to Putin’s grim regime. India needs to be censured, and this would be the most telling way of doing it.

Dr Ewan McLeish

Marlow

Are we really so shallow and naive with political leaders?

As the impetus for Scottish independence nosedives into chaos and the news media circles to feast on the carcass of Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP, it struck me how vulnerable our political structures and movements have become to the cult of celebrity. Surely Scottish Independence is bigger than Sturgeon alone? We watched agog as we blamed an obtuse, wilfully blind, and bumptious Liz Truss for solely crippling a nation’s reputation and finances hot on the heels of the hilariously dishonest Boris Johnson, who it seems singularly trashed our already teetering faith in our government.

The divisive antisemitism debacle at the heart of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour leadership has continued to generate damaging scar tissue needing further surgery under Keir Starmer, which he seems reluctant to perform.

Is this burgeoning celebrity “figurehead” mentality being generated by media or is it something the political strategists want as they eternally try to simplify complex issues into bite-size or soundbite pieces? We seem to have become politically polarised and needy and want merely to rely upon a single hero to stand behind or an Aunt Sally to hurl rocks at depending on our mood.

Are we really so shallow and naive that we are unable to see past the foibles, peccadillos, and weaknesses of the one human being at the helm? Don’t these seismic movements have more momentum than just that created by the person parked at the top of the dung heap? Frankly, it really doesn’t make any sense to assume an entire political movement and national aspiration is dead in the water just because you discover the leader is a dud.

I’d like to think we’re somewhat brighter than that.

Steve Mackinder

Denver

Advanced maths is not the answer

Roisin O’Connor hit the nail on the head in her recent article on the real meaning of numeracy – maths needs to be simple and relevant.

The vast majority of people do not need the complexities of GCSE and A-level maths. Unless they are going to become mathematicians, of course.

Even the technically inclined will find most of what they have struggled to learn irrelevant as most of the hard lifting of number crunching is done electronically these days.

What they do need is the ability to do straightforward sums correctly, have a basic appreciation of probability, and understand what the results actually mean – that the numbers represent real things, not abstract concepts. An ability clearly lacking in many of our leaders and some areas of the media which frequently misrepresent or misuse statistics for their own ends.

By all means let those who do want, need or just enjoy the more advanced maths study it – but first make sure that everyone can do the basics early in their education.

Mike Margetts

Kilsby

The future is the railways

We are blessed (not cursed) by having thousands of miles of track, hundreds of stations, and hence the ability to move millions of people to their place of work in a safe and viable, environmentally friendly, manner. It is a dream of a starting point to achieve more passengers, lower fares and free local transport.

If we look simplistically at money from fares compared to maintenance and the cost of running the trains, it looks hopeless. We need to take into account the cost to the environment and the damage of having so many cars on our roads.

Buying a bigger and better car and using it for single-occupancy travel has become an aim for individuals when it is a disaster for the planet. We have to make commuting by train much more pleasant and very cheap.

Instead of moaning about the cost, we should think about what damage we are inflicting by not making maximum use of the amazing resource that the railways present, which is so relevant to our future.

Robert Murray

Nottingham