Letter of the week: Doors of perception

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Andrew Marr goes where many fear to tread in his depiction of why 2.8 million people are claiming sickness benefits (Politics, 22 November). Though his metaphor of a choice of two doors into the complex world of social security is entertaining, it might be disputed, not least by the people navigating a complex and inhospitable system. But to write about the numbers of people who are claiming benefit because they are unable to work without mentioning the disincentives to come off benefits, the enormous personal risk taken by people as they navigate their return to work and the hostility and insecurity of the current job market risks missing the point.

We do have too many people who are unable to work because of sickness. We also have unprecedented waiting lists for treatment, a system that prohibits a gradual and cautious return to work, high levels of ill-health attributed directly to poverty and destitution, and a group of people for whom unsupported mental illness poses major challenges. The answers to these problems lie squarely with government. The description of two doors trivialises the issue and assumes an incentive to claim sickness benefit that is by no means the whole story.
Julia Unwin, chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2007-16

A question of circumstance

Andrew Marr (Politics, 22 November) and I were born in the Fifties. We hear fellow Boomers complain about “the young” over their sundown gins. But each of us is partly the product of our circumstances. We were not especially blessed with innate moral fibre, but were born into a benign welfare state in peacetime, and a path of free opportunities opened up before us. Had we been born in 1890 or 1920, war and death might have loomed, but we would have been no more “heroic” than circumstances demanded. Born in 2000, we might be workless, demoralised, beset by the physical ills of junk food and the mental ills of social media. We would not be lesser human beings.

We need a new Beveridge plan to slay these newer evil giants through government action, but we also need to give agency to those “rotting at home” to change their circumstances via a fundamentally reformed politics at all levels.
David Longson, Sheffield

As my wife and I have recently been “migrated” on to Universal Credit (from the previous system, which paid Child Tax Credit and Housing Benefit as separate items), I read Andrew Marr’s column with anticipation. Always an admirer of his observation and powers of analysis, I was disappointed that his insights into why so many working-age people have dropped out of the workforce did not include the elephant in the room: the combination of ballooning rents and flat-lining pay.

Although my wife and I both work, labyrinthine Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) rules about self-employment mean I must attend weekly meetings with a work coach. Should I miss an appointment or fail to satisfy the DWP that I am looking hard enough for more work, we could be sanctioned. Were that to happen, we would be unable to meet our landlord’s insatiable demands for cash and become homeless. Estate agents do not look kindly on homeless people who claim benefits.

Instead of policies that confront the misery caused by this dysfunctional mismatch between pay and housing costs, all we get from this government is moralising platitudes about people being over-reliant on benefits and vague promises to build houses on the green belt. It’s enough to make you sick. Literally.
Daniel Carter, Cambridge

Give me a sine

Pleasure in maths, and some insight into its nature, can be gained by applying it to simple “real” situations. For example, think of all the different ways one could cut three pancakes to share them equally among five people. I have a high regard for Marcus du Sautoy (Encounter, 15 November), but I don’t think it gets most of us closer to maths to talk about its “magic” and to make mystifying, performative statements such as “sines and cosines are a telescope to understand the night sky”.
Dietmar Küchemann, London SW17

Follow the leader

Madeleine Davies suggests Church attendance falling under Justin Welby is not solely down to him (Newsmaker, 15 November). Welby’s critics would be right that closing down in-person Church of England services during the first outbreak of Covid-19 was a mistake. However, as an irregular churchgoer, I would argue there are other factors involved, irrespective of who is in charge.

Aside from the growth in Islam over the past 30 years, religion has struggled to keep up with materialism (including Sunday trading) and non-secular interests that pander to immediate whims. Alternative forms of worship do not appeal to traditional churchgoers, and I would not blame Welby for this. But unless the Church of England finds an inspirational leader, I can only see it withering away.
David Rimmer, Hertford Heath

Have-a-go heroics

I so enjoyed reading Rachel Cunliffe’s Deleted Scenes (22 November) about her trying her hand at pottery. I empathise completely, because my artistic and handicraft skills are also practically non-existent. She is right: stay in the moment and relish the new experience. Her husband is right, too: there is never any harm in having a go and laughing at the results – or maybe, having a moment of success when that lump of inert material turns into a lovely and useful receptacle.
Judith A Daniels, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

Turn the page

After reading Nicholas Lezard’s column for many months, I feel he should sit down with Will Dunn and have a long talk on Money Matters. It seems Nicholas needs to go to what I call money school.
Ian Mather, Brisbane, Australia

Gardener’s question time

As your columnist Alice Vincent’s husband, and with her encouragement (Gardening, 22 November), may I take the opportunity to nag her to do some gardening. The gravel out front needs weeding.
Matt Trueman, London