If we want to save the planet, we need to start limiting the number of children people have

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Having more than two children (one would be even better) is antisocial and shouldn’t be encouraged (AFP)

Europe is on fire – it is literally burning. The climate crisis is here with a vengeance, much sooner than predicted.

Therefore, in my opinion, having more than two children should not be encouraged, but actively discouraged. Parents surely want their children to have a future free from global catastrophe, and pretending it’s not happening is no longer an option. Soon, vast numbers of misplaced persons from the hottest countries will be fleeing to cooler shores, and the world will be in turmoil – unless we act radically and fast.

Setting a limit on the number of children you can have is right and proper, and we now have a much more profound reason for being responsible enough to say more than two children (one would be even better) is antisocial and not to be encouraged.

I would not want any child to be deprived of their needs, but we are talking about children not yet born. The whole landscape of our lives is changing, and this must be recognised, for the human race, for all creatures whose lives we are destroying as well as our own, and for the unborn children themselves.

Penny Little

Oxfordshire

We can’t be complicit

The daily frustrations that many of us feel when faced with a government that has failed to address the most pressing issue of our time and ignored the destruction caused by the climate crisis has led us to cling to the oft-cited butterfly theory: the belief that the smallest of actions can have a major impact in unexpected ways.

The less we do, the more we are complicit in hastening the decline of life on earth; we all have a voice and can take action, which may – no matter how insignificant it seems – have a lasting impact elsewhere.

Graham Powell

Cirencester

Once upon a time, our country got things right

I read Tom Peck’s caustic and comical column with interest, as well as Sebastian Monblat’s considered letter about that disastrous educational transaction of degrees that do not reach Sunak’s baseline of economic viability and ones that seemingly do.

As the latter states, those degrees likely to get the chop are exactly what this beleaguered country does require. Graduates who by virtue of their degrees become thoughtful individuals who can think outside the rigid box of what counts for success today and enrich and enhance our lives by their creative input.

This country by virtue of this government is being placed in a cultural straitjacket of being told what to think, how to act in any given situation, and if it doesn’t reach their arbitrary criteria, it is deemed wrong and impermissible. I always hark back now so nostalgically to the 2012 London Olympics and Danny Boyle’s classic opening ceremony, where industry met a flagship NHS, diversity met equality and for once in our little, quirky country we did indeed get things right. To state that literary quote “the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there”, and isn’t that the truth after 13 long years of Conservative rule?

Judith A Daniels

Norfolk

Hate for the humanities

It’s not entirely clear what the government regards as being “rip-off” degrees that won’t lead to jobs but I think it’s reasonable to presume that those targeted will most likely be in the humanities. To be entirely fair, looking at recent policies such as austerity, the hostile environment, shipping asylum seekers to Rwanda, and painting over familiar cartoon figures in child detention centres, I think it’s probably safe to assume that studying inhumanities is more likely to lead to a job as a Conservative politician…

Julian Self

Milton Keynes

Keep them in the dark

One must remember another reason for the threat to cut degree courses: the elite will resist educating the majority of ordinary people to a standard where they become enlightened enough to realise a change to the system must occur. It is, quite simply, in the interests of the long-established hierarchy to keep a large chunk of the populace metaphorically in the dark.

Robert Boston

Kent

Same old dodges, same old outcomes

The embarrassing convulsions of Boris Johnson after he was caught holding illegal booze-ups at No 10, then lying about it and then denying he was lying was ultimately his calamitous undoing.

Yet, now we see Rishi Sunak’s minions up to similar shenanigans as they try to hide the fact he’s even using some very expensive MoD jets to get to meetings. Surely our PM might see it as a tad insensitive or just plain wasteful in the current financial climate? At least it isn’t illegal. But just like with Boris, Rishi’s attempts to hide facts rather than fess up automatically triggers alarm bells. Same old Tories same old dodges, same old outcomes.

Steve Mackinder

Denver