I read with such dismay (although with no great surprise) Barney Davis’s column: “Young girls happiness at an ‘all-time-low’, survey reveals”. The Girlguiding annual attitudes survey flags up some very worrying concerns and tells us that young girls’ mental health is affected by so many issues. This surely is an indictment on us all.
Of course, being pilloried on social media for their looks and how they are made to feel that they have to achieve an “acceptable norm” is dire, and is something that needs urgent attention from these platforms. They should not have a daily diet of anxiety and low self-esteem because of feeling the utter heaviness of too much expectation placed on too young shoulders. They will inevitably buckle, which will have long-term consequences on their mental health, with all that that entails for their general health and wellbeing.
Angela Salt, Girlguiding’s chief executive, is spot on that organisations like hers can indeed offer such support to young girls’ flailing spirits. Our government needs to get its act together with more help and mental health support, and not leave it to schools and parents to take up the slack.
As a volunteer steward at my local theatre, I would strongly promote young people joining theatre groups, where they can perform on stage and be a part of a proactive and creative group. I have lost count of the shows I have seen where young girls (and indeed boys) are so uplifted by the experience. It gives them so much self-confidence and esteem, which can allay and prevent their feelings of inadequacy in the complex, divisive world in which we live.
Judith A Daniels
Address supplied
The UK’s pension system is embarrassing enough – let’s not make it even worse
Retirement is supposed to be about being able to enjoy the closing stage of your life in decent health and comparative comfort. This requires a reliable regular income which can be predicted years in advance. It’s called a pension. This country is far from generous with its state pension when compared to other similar countries. However, it seems from recent discussions in parliament and the media that even this modest provision is considered too costly. The triple lock pension escalator has become unaffordable.
Surely we are missing the point here. The pension payment itself needs to be sufficient to live on, otherwise it is pointless. However, the age at which people become eligible for receipt of the state pension is another issue altogether. We are living far longer than when the state pension was introduced and enjoying better health for longer. There is no reason therefore why the eligibility age cannot be raised further. This would cut the overall pension provision cost and help to retain useful employees in the workforce.
A good manifesto commitment for the next election would be to commit to a full review of the state pension in all respects. Not just the triple lock.
Bernard Cudd
Morpeth
It’s time to rejoin the EU
More than half of Britons want to rejoin the EU – the tipping point from which there’s no turning back.
Brexit has indisputably disenfranchised the majority. Denying people political choice and a referendum to rejoin, to which they’re entitled, is an indelibly dark stain on our democracy and our constitution. The Tories must own their Brexit. Opposition parties must disown it – and they have an absolute duty to do so.
The first referendum was purely advisory and held without safeguards, despite the magnitude of the constitutional change involved. Political and ethical decency was discarded, truth ruthlessly violated and consequences dismissed – yet all politicians are enforcing it as sacrosanct. They’re wilfully refusing a second EU referendum with proper safeguards.
Of course, Brexiteers have the right to make their case again, but we must have our right to judge and vote on it.
It’s politically immoral to force the calamitous consequences of Brexit on voters who were lied to. That is why a second referendum is imperative. Party leaders must honour this. Brexit will tear the United Kingdom apart, and send its fractured pieces into long-term decline. It can never “work”. That’s a lie.
The malign repercussions will never be tolerable and we shouldn’t be forced to endure the corrupted politics that gave it birth.
Jennifer Godschall Johnson
Address supplied
We only have half the story on pensions
In this time of crippling inflation, the figures being quoted for the increases in pensions and earnings do not give the whole story. Many people like me have “contracted out” private pensions with a consequently reduced state pension.
My wife’s state pension is reduced even more as a result of our being posted abroad for work and she has no private pension. My private pension increase was only the statutory 2 per cent with no “discretionary” increase. Coupled with the two state pensions the overall increase this year was only 4 per cent. On top of that, there has been no increase in our savings, thus losing around 10 per cent in real terms.
We can stand this for one year, but heaven forbid that it continues.
Colin Wright
Orpington
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