I cannot even remember, it was so long ago, the first time I was shocked by an American mass shooting and then consequently the total lack of action to change anything.

We have read copious comments on the Las Vegas tragedy which happened just a few months ago, and now similar rhetoric around the Florida shooting, and I have to say that, and most people would agree, there is very little optimism going forward.

Now I see that Donald Trump thinks it may be a good idea to “arm” teachers. All that will ensue, should this go ahead, is a larger, modern-day version of the Gunfight at the OK Corral but with more lethal weaponry!

Then what will be the next step, obligatory flak jackets and state-of-the-art helmets for pupils, teachers and maybe even janitors?

It is hardly inline with the purpose of schools’ very existence – that is, learning.

That last word is the one thing that too many Americans never do and sadly possibly never will.

Robert Boston

Kingshill

Sixty-eight per cent of millennials want to leave their jobs

The issues around the job market are important and probably more serious than is widely reported and indeed understood. A study by the London School of Business and Finance found that on average around 50 per cent of the workforce wanted to change career and a whopping 68 per cent of millennials wanted to leave their jobs.

In each demographic, a healthier work/life balance and poor wages were cited as one of the main reasons for such change. Such widespread unhappiness cannot be good for the workplace and may explain why our productivity levels are so low. When entering into a Brexit-inspired period of uncertainty such issues need to be urgently addressed.

Name and address supplied

Stormzy made a good point about Grenfell

All credit to Stormzy for asking: “Where’s the money for Grenfell?” during the Brit Awards.

Theresa May made the response that she is “absolutely committed” to supporting the people affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.

If that’s true then why do four out of five of the families who survived the Grenfell fire still need homes so long after the disaster?

In addition, why – according to a Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government report issued in January – have only three tower blocks out of 299 identified with the same “dangerous” and “flammable” cladding as Grenfell Tower had those panels replaced?

Why do 296 tower blocks continue to carry the same cladding systems as Grenfell Tower eight months after the disaster?

Why do the residents of those tower blocks continue to live in what the report described as a “fire hazard”?

Is this another example of “strong and stable leadership” from Theresa May?

Sasha Simic

London N16

Striking academics are ungrateful

Now that universities have turned themselves into virtual companies with vastly overpaid CEOs with their customers (ie students) being ripped off for ever-poorer courses, it may be time the employees (teachers) entered the real world.

While those whose only income is the state pension are expected to work for longer and longer, some even beyond average life expectancy, our cosseted teachers and lecturers expect unrealistic pension schemes to continue even if unaffordable. Without exception all teachers and lecturers of my acquaintance have retired early, well before the generous 60 years of age, and those working are just waiting for their “package” of early retirement.

Maybe we could just put up income tax for those relying on state pension or increase student fees.

Name and address supplied

Leading over loudness

Johnson, Gove, Davis, Fox, Rees-Mogg – if you were in a dangerous situation, would you trust any of them to lead you out of it? Would you find it reassuring that they were at the front of the column?

Thought not. I would like to have Davis on the team to hold off the enemy or wrestle the crocodile while I escaped, but none of them could persuade me to follow them into the unknown.

How then have they become so dominant in the debate about our future that they have intimidated the Prime Minister and persuaded a majority of the country to vote to set off into uncharted territory? Perhaps because their confidence is taken for competence and their bullying style is mistaken for leadership, when it is more about command.

If we are to leave Europe, it must be on the basis of sound analysis of the costs and benefits, not because a group with loud voices and big egos shout about the will of the people at anyone who dares to question them and their right to decide what is best for us. We need to tell the Brexit bullies to shut up so we can hear the quieter voices. Maybe one of them will have some real leadership ability.

Richard Warrell

Yealmpton

I would go back to eating avocados, but I can’t get a job to pay for them

As a current graduate seeking employment I would like to express my disappointment at the shocking lack of common courtesy exhibited by so many hiring companies.

In the age of technology, where we millennials are blamed for our short-sightedness which causes us to eat avocado on toast rather than save for a mortgage, it seems that many companies feel the distance imposed by the internet between potential employers and candidates permits graduates, desperate for a job, to be ignored.

As a graduate from an Oxbridge university with a good degree I had not expected my job search in a highly competitive field to be simple, but four months down the line, and having applied to approximately 70 positions, I am appalled at the lack of courtesy which has seen barely 20 per cent of my applications receive a reply.

I am not referring to interview success (on which the strength of my application may be blamed), but to the arrogance which allows a company, to whom thousands of graduates have taken time and effort to write to, to not even acknowledge receipt of the application or notification of an unsuccessful attempt. I appreciate that such companies often have little time for such things but even a basic stock email, expressing regrets, would be relatively easy to send en masse (or it would for a computer-literate millennial – perhaps they need to hire some more).

I am sure that many readers will put me down as another moaning millennial (which is certainly true for some issues) but in a world where my generation are often criticised for spending too much time glued to our screens, I would ask that the older generation remember their manners and have some sympathy for the newly qualified graduates desperate for a job.