Supermarkets could easily help improve animal welfare – billions of chickens would be spared untold agony

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It is nothing new that supermarkets are profit-oriented and some choose money over the welfare of animals they use in their supply chain, but how can it be that some supermarkets pay so little attention to what consumers want and instead shower themselves with bonuses?

How can it be that so little is given to the life of animals? It would be easy for supermarkets to fix certain grievances, like the misery of the chickens they sell, by joining the Better Chicken Commitment.

Some retailers have, thankfully, joined the scheme, but major chains could be sparing billions of chickens untold agony. Supermarkets should finally start listening to their customers and to their shareholders.

Andrea-Caroline Metelmann

Liverpool

Progressive alliance

I guess at least some of those who voted against the Tories in the Chesham and Amersham by-election did so because of a dislike of Boris Johnson’s nationalist/populist approach. We did not really need Dominic Cummings’s criticisms of the PM to tell us this. Johnson’s words and actions are proof positive of the man’s complete unsuitability to be at the helm of our nation’s affairs.

Probably the clearest evidence of this is the way he has repeatedly failed to enforce the Ministerial Code, which he himself wrote and promulgated at the commencement of his tenure. However, there is much more: his attempt to prorogue Parliament, his poor mouthing of the judiciary and his plans to trim the powers of the Electoral Commission. Then there is his meeting with the Bahraini Crown Prince (no sign of an ethical foreign policy there!).

If Johnson stays in office much longer we will be on a slippery slope to a complete collapse of constitutional, liberal democracy in Britain. Priti Patel, Kwasi Kwarteng and others among his entourage clearly take their arrogant tone from their master and just spread the rot that comes from the top.

To counter this, the formation of a strong progressive alliance needs to be formed. The manifesto will have to include a radical reformulation of the British Constitution so that never again will we have a Trump lite (or heavy) prime minister attempting to get away with what this one has.

Rev Andrew McLuskey

Ashford

Refugee resettlement

The refugee article by May Bulman is one of the most positive, hopeful and encouraging I have ever read in a newspaper. At a time when there is so doom, gloom, strife and conflict it is delightful to read about people whose lives have been turned around dramatically and who clearly enjoy expressing their appreciation of the experience. The Independent should make this a weekly feature.

D Corey

Redcar

Growing fascism

I read with great interest, not to say alarm, Patrick Cockburn’s insightful article about how the Republican Party in the USA has become a threat to democracy and turning towards fascism. It puts a sharp focus on the faint writing that’s been on the wall for some years now. If one so chose to look.

My concern now throws up the question of whether the Conservative Party under Boris Johnson is not heading in the same direction? Fascism. As it is, the Conservatives see themselves as a one-party state. There is no viable opposition to question, probe and challenge in a meaningful manner. Prime Minister’s Question Time has become a farce. Established processes to hold accountable any wrongdoings are being dismantled. Fascism in the making?

Gunter Straub

London

Defending minorities

World Refugee Day (21 June) should serve as a catalyst for politicians, decision makers, civil society and non-governmental organisations to rejuvenate their advocacy efforts to resolve conflicts and humanitarian crises. Millions of refugees are still living in the grip of hunger, poverty, discrimination, vilification, homophobia, xenophobia and antisemitism. There is therefore an urgent need to speak up in defence of minorities and indigenous populations and work collaboratively to mitigate grinding injustices and the festering wounds of wars.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob

London