It’s obvious that no experience or empathy is necessary to become a minister

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

Surely he must be de-selected and a by-election held? (PA Wire)

It’s obvious that no experience or empathy is necessary to become a minister. Priti Patel is the prime example, and Matt Hancock is no exception.

He obviously feels abandoned by Rishi Sunak in the latest reshuffled government. Therefore, he is planning to make some hay while his sun still shines. His future employment is surely tenuous. Who would consider employing a man who blindly followed and vouched for a nincompoop such as Boris Johnson?

Although the pinnacle of his stupidity was breaking lockdown rules to have an affair with an employee, this is compounded when he spent millions buying shipping services from a company that had no ships. ITV encouraged him to join I’m a Celebrity….. with an eye-watering lure of £400,000. Mr Hancock must have thought his Christmases had come all at once.

For someone who has operated for so long way above his competence level and faced an unknown financial and political future, this offer must have been a godsend. His constituents have been badly let down by their MP but have done little, to date, to show their anger. Surely he must be de-selected and a by-election held? But why should he care? He is financially secure for a few years and there are organisations that have a very low threshold of integrity who will employ him, I’m sure.

Keith Poole

Basingstoke

We are obliged to help those in need

As a nation, we are obliged to offer support to refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons, and all people who are forcibly displaced from their homes. Also, it is fair to support host nations which shoulder the brunt of refugees despite meagre resources. We are all in the same boats together as we grapple with multiple challenges from armed conflicts to violence, persecution, climate change, global warming, economic uncertainty, food insecurity and soaring living costs and energy bills.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob

London

We are very disappointed in the home secretary’s language

We are disappointed in the words used by the home secretary. Rather than using the rhetoric of a xenophobic administration, the home secretary would do well to listen to the testimonies of those who fled Nazi oppression and found refuge here.

Any government must have a robust migration system, but we must also demonstrate compassion to help those in need. Using inflammatory language to describe an “invasion” is dehumanising and demeaning to those seeking asylum as well as our government.

While war and oppression create refugees, it is their adopted countries that manifestly benefit from their contributions.

Michael Newman OBE

Chief executive, Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR)

Fun for the family

Reading Harriet Williamson’s account of being laughed at for not knowing how to pronounce “Southwark” correctly reminded me of the fun our family had upon hearing, on a very rural local railway station, the announcement that the train would be calling at Prud Hoe! They have it correct now; “Pruduh”.

Paul Warren

Cumbria

We have a duty to inspire children

As teachers, it is our job to encourage and inspire students to harness their natural creativity and curiosity, not only to pass exams but also to think outside of the box. We need to enable and inspire students to learn about the exciting world around us and realise how they can make a difference in helping solve the world’s problems.

I am head of science at Greenwich Steiner School and students from my class recently took part in the Tomorrow’s Engineers Week Future Minds broadcast. During the event, students from across the UK heard from engineers who are at the forefront of innovations in industries such as the environment, technology, entertainment and sport, and contributed their own ideas for how new innovations could improve the world around us over the next decade.

Witnessing how inspired and motivated my students were after taking part in this event, I was reminded of how crucial it is for young people to have access to varied learning opportunities such as these. I feel hugely optimistic that if we continue to encourage imaginative thinking in young people when it comes to teaching Stem subjects, the next generation could go on to solve some of our world’s greatest problems.

Kelly Karran

Head of science, Greenwich Steiner School, southeast London

We will face further destruction

Andrew Bailey’s prediction that interest rate rises may no longer be as high as the Bank of England originally forecast will be of little consolation to the many hard-pressed homeowners already facing unaffordable mortgages. It also reinforces the point that a political, as well as financial, grip on the British economy is desperately needed as it slides into either its longest or deepest (or both) recessions in the last 100 years.

The Bank of England can only employ the blunt instrument of interest rates to tackle inflation, consequences that, coupled with alarming cost of living increases, condemns millions to either abject poverty or mass unemployment.

Without corrective political measures by the government to support Britain through this profound crisis, including the resolve to employ robust personal and corporate fiscal distribution, such as windfall gains on excessive energy, asset and banking profits, the shallow recession hoped for will be replaced by something far more destructive.

Paul Dolan

Cheshire