Defence secretary Ben Wallace will be sorely missed – unlike some of his Tory peers

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

Britain cannot be taken seriously by other countries until we can demonstrate a more mature, honest and humane mode of government (PA)

Unlike many MPs who are standing down at the next election, defence secretary Ben Wallace will be sorely missed. He has a good, consistent record in the same job under three PMs and is highly regarded.

Indeed, he was considered a serious contender for the job of PM in last year’s Tory leadership debacle. However, he is leaving in a controlled and honourable way unlike Nadine Dorries and some other MPs. The Tory party can be described as a sinking ship that has been floundering, rudderless for many years, finally breaking up on the rocks of its own failures.

Britain cannot be taken seriously by other countries until we can demonstrate a more mature, honest and humane mode of government. Better ministers, legislation that encapsulates the needs of the British people, and transparent governance.

Change must come for a better future because, helped by Brexit and Covid-19, the Tory government of 14 years has decimated our standard of living, future horizons and society at large. Britain is poorer and more indebted due to mismanagement by those who are supposed to have a duty of care for our future.

At present about 40 MPs have indicated they will not stand at the next election, there will be more no doubt. My feeling is that these MPs expect the Tories will be in opposition after the next election and are not prepared to spend the next decade or so out of the limelight. After all, it is more lucrative to be in government than opposition.

Keith Poole Basingstoke

What is the point without radical reform?

Reading John Rentoul’s column recently reminded me how often we hear this message: that workers represented by unions should have no expectations of things getting better because of “fiscal responsibility” or “financial prudence”. The country can’t afford it. Yet executive pay and rewards, year after year, grow ever more obscene and the gap between their earnings and the average worker gets ever wider. Do they deserve it?

The performance of our economy doesn’t say so. The average worker has also lived through the financial crash of 2008 and austerity measures where public services were devastated but even then there was still room for a cut in the top rate of tax and cuts in corporate tax rates. For what? To be squandered on dividends and pay increases for executives, for quantitative easing to inflate asset prices and for the continued failure of privatisation to take over our essential services.

But, in John Rentoul’s world, is this once again expected to “be realistic”? The truth is that the economic model of the country no longer works for the vast majority of people and if a Labour government doesn’t recognise this and radically reform the model then what is the point of them? It can’t ever be right that wages stagnate for most but Boris Johnson “earns” £21,000 per hour, or can it, John? Is that the status quo you want maintained?

John Murray Bracknell

Straight to the shredder

The latest revelations regarding the use of various derivatives of the “n” word in government (and now royal) papers are nothing less than an insulting and deplorable indictment of casual racism. Whether they are deliberate or merely overlooked entries in these royal catalogues we shall never know, but what baffles me is the fact that for 15 years this language was there for all to see and went unnoticed by anyone.

Are these documents so spectacularly and supremely irrelevant that nobody has ever picked up on this content until today? It shouldn’t be happening but clearly sticking these horrible and frankly pointless old out-of-print documents in the shredder is the answer... least said, soonest mended.

Steve Mackinder Denver, Norfolk

More than money

Rishi Sunak’s plans to tackle “bad” degrees represent yet another Tory attack on the arts and humanities in Britain. Judging the merit of a degree by the average salary accrued by its attainers alone is a terrible idea, for what one learns from an arts-based degree goes beyond mere money-related matters.

A philosophy degree, or a degree in fine art or art history, can help form a student into a thoughtful, curious, creative human being, with a balanced moral compass. Yes, the majority might not ever earn more than £40,000 in today’s money, but top artists and writers will – and for those who don’t, their lives may be enriched in other ways.

If certain degrees do indeed fail to grant students large salaries, perhaps the government should resolve to make those courses less expensive in the first place, rather than artificially capping student numbers.

Sebastian Monblat Surbiton

Wimbledon wonder

I fully admit I am no tennis aficionado and the finer points often leave me bereft of technical knowledge. But for once I took my head out of the Sunday newspapers and watched the singles final between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.

I was captivated by this seemingly done deal that the reigning champion would win. I was on the edge of my settee and it was really an epic battle. To think that a 20-year-old could defeat the master in this way confounded us all. It was so evenly pitched and in the end so hard to call because Alcaraz didn’t give up for a single second or shot.

Lovely, too, that Djokovic was pleasantly unassuming in his speech afterwards with a gracious nature. I have lined up my Wimbledon settee position for next year.

Judith A Daniels Norfolk