I often cry when I read the news these days, but seeing the welcome received by Syrian refugees on the Isle of Bute, and other humanitarian actions being carried out in different places by kind people, restores my faith in human nature (“‘We have lots of wee Syrian children with Scottish accents’ ”, In Focus).

There are many good deeds being done quietly by ordinary people who do not need to announce what they are doing on social media. Instead, they travel to war-torn lands, as did my friend’s colleague, and try to repair infrastructure so that people living among the bombs can have clean water. Another friend goes to a suffering community in the Middle East and buys their handmade products so they can have an income.

What we need to do is increase positive action worldwide so that evil cannot win. Instead of trumpeting the colour of a new British passport, we need to give support to more communities forced to flee their homes because of conflicts that Britain took part in or armed. And we need to provide shelter and work for homeless people. Make 2018 the year we become kinder and more welcoming to the suffering.

Margaret Forbes

Kilmacolm, Inverclyde

It was both exhilarating and depressing in equal measure to read your piece on Syrian refugees. Bute’s assimilation of these desperate people makes for very warm reading. A beacon shining through today’s bigotry and racial tensions. This is in stark contrast to Westminster’s miserly approach to humanitarian issues. Great Britain? Really?

Ronnie Lewis

Crymych, Pembrokeshire

Shaming CEOs is not enough



“Tough action to match the rhetoric” is not something anyone can seriously associate with Theresa May’s government and publishing the names of companies “that suffered at least a 20% shareholder rebellion against proposals for executives’ pay”, or other resolutions at shareholder meetings, simply strengthens the argument that “Chief executives are hard to embarrass: rules on pay must get even tougher” (Business leader).

Not only will it do little to rein in excessive awards, as these executives, like bankers, are immune to embarrassment, but the list is incomplete. For example, it omits Persimmon, because only 9.7% of its shareholders objected to the remuneration proposals that gave 150 bosses a share of £600m, with the CEO pocketing more than £100m, and it will have omitted many more. Far from being an initiative that “bore fruit”, as you contend, the government’s list will ensure that this particular unacceptable face of capitalism keeps smiling. Trusting in the ethical behaviour of businessmen is like believing bankers have to be given bonuses to keep the “best people” in the City. Having rules to force all companies to publish pay data, as you suggest, is not enough.

A sensible ratio between CEOs’ pay and the average worker has to be agreed upon and a law passed enforcing the decision. Failing that, raising the top levels of income tax to such heights that the amassing of obscene wealth becomes impossible would not be unpopular with the majority of voters. Such a policy is not unprecedented, with the Wilson government in the 1970s having a top level of 83% for earnings, plus an extra 15% for investment income.

Bernie Evans

Liverpool

The rise and rise of inequality



While the Observer is to be commended for its front-page story on recent increases in health inequalities, particularly among children (“Huge health gap revealed between UK’s rich and poor”), what is shocking is not these inequalities have only now been revealed, but the fact that we have known about for decades and failed to address them.

The UK’s stark inequalities in health reflect its equally stark income and wealth inequalities and they are rising under austerity. Until we address these, we have no hope of narrowing the differences, particularly among the most vulnerable children and young people.

Kate Pickett

Professor of epidemiology

University of York

Richard Wilkinson

Emeritus professor of social epidemiology

University of Nottingham

Valleys are not so green



I was amazed you published a letter last week headlined “There’s plenty of good news coming out of the Welsh valleys” by someone giving his address as Cheddar in Somerset. As someone who lives in the South Wales valleys, I find no evidence of this person’s enthusiasm. Our rail network to the coastal towns is archaic, bus services to all places mentioned are pathetic and time-consuming, while most of our youngsters lack encouragement and opportunities. Our valley resources were destroyed when coal and steel declined (as in Ebbw Vale).

We see, in every valley that we visit, men and women of working age who will never work again because there is no work that they once knew. Local colleges offer courses in media or beauty therapy. All the examples given by your correspondent – arts, training, etc – are designed to take students out of the area, not contribute to it. We need industry in our valleys, not enthusiasm from over the border.

Claire Davies

Abercynon, Rhondda Cynon Taf