Sir, There is much in Emma Duncan’s analysis of pensions provision that is right (“Want better pensions? Be more like the Aussies”, comment, May 30). The minimum contribution rate for automatic enrolment is insufficient for an adequate retirement; many employers and employees only pay the minimum; and there is an option to opt out. The triple lock was created as a “catch-up” policy, as the British state pension compared poorly with international comparators. As a mechanism for the future, however, it is illogical, and were politicians bolder they would explain that it needs replacement. Where the commentary is wrong is to suggest that wealthier pensioners should either waive their state pension or pay a super tax. Although it’s a fiction, the relationship between national insurance contributions and state pension entitlement has been drummed into people and the wealthy are very likely to have paid maximum NICs and often for longer than the required 35 years.
Stuart Southall
East Horsley, Surrey

Sir, Emma Duncan highlights an important point: that pensioners vote. Parties are scared to make difficult decisions, not just about pensions but other important issues such as social care. And we are stuck in a political system where the opposition always feels the need to condemn the government, just for the sake of partisan politics. As a nation, we cannot continue like this. Do we want to pay for these things by raising taxes or do we not? We need a group of brave politicians who care more about the country than themselves or their parties to organise a cross-party committee to come up with solutions that benefit the country as a whole.
Chris Kessell
York

Sir, Rachel Reeves says she wants “reserve powers” to mandate pension funds to invest into private markets (“Ministers’ new powers will force funds to buy British”, business, May 29). The chancellor is right to make sure the government can hold pensions accountable for British workers and our country’s economic interests. The UK has fantastic high-growth biotech companies that the pensions of Californian public sector workers and Canadian teachers are invested in. Why should British workers not get to enjoy the economic returns of our world-leading science and entrepreneurialism? And why should the economies of other nations benefit from innovations coming out of our taxpayer-funded universities because pension pots topped up with taxpayer-funded reliefs think venture capital is too hard, or too risky, in stark contrast to their international peers?
Steve Bates
CEO, UK BioIndustry Association

Sir, The chancellor is threatening to make pension fund trustees breach their fiduciary duty to invest for the best return for their pensioners by forcing them to invest in UK-listed companies. If she does carry out her threat, I hope she puts her money where her mouth is by immediately instructing the parliamentary pension scheme, which invests under 2 per cent of its funds in UK-listed companies at present, to comply.
Robert Rhodes KC
London WC2

Sir, Emma Duncan lauds the Australian compulsory retirement fund system. But she may be unaware of the assault the recently re-elected Labor government is planning: an annual tax on unrealised capital gains in superannuation funds in excess of A$3 million (£1.4 million), a decision that threatens to erode confidence in the system.
Alan Slade
Sydney

Defence demands

Sir, The war memorial in the tiny village of Marazion, Cornwall, lists 22 dead in the “war to end all wars”, and a further 12 in the Second World War. These men knew nothing of drones, cyberwarfare or hypersonic missiles. They would certainly have been baffled by a defence secretary who wants to rely on a future parliament to increase defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP a full nine years in the future, when the make-up of that parliament is unknowable and the need is now (news, May 31). In desperation, our defence spending rose to almost 7 per cent of GDP in 1938. More would have been needed to deter war then, as it is now and as eastern European states have realised. Which of today’s politicians recognise that effective deterrence is everything? Or is the 2025 strategic defence review just the Treasury writing the longest unconditional surrender in history?
Colin Treleven
Ludgvan, Cornwall

Peer’s Nazi jibe

Sir, The Lord Hermer complaint that seeking to change human rights laws or withdraw from the ECHR amounts to Nazism (letters, May 31) illustrates the trap a certain sort of social democrat sets: “We’ve made the right law for all time. If you wish to change it because it’s no longer fit for purpose, then you’re a fascist.” That is a feeble attempt to keep control of a matter that’s slipped away. Why not accept change is needed and contribute to that change rather than dig in one’s heels and risk losing the lot?
Mark Allen
East Grinstead, W Sussex

Assisted dying laws

Sir, Dr Tim Howard asserts (letter, May 30) that assisted dying laws have worked without dreadful consequences in jurisdictions such as Oregon. He overlooks the fact that no such jurisdiction has anything approaching an effective mechanism for preventing or detecting such consequences. In Oregon, for example, doctors submit forms, after the fact, to a data-collecting body that has admitted it does not know how many cases go unreported or whether the forms it receives reflect reality. Form-filling and self-reporting scarcely qualify as strict safeguards.

Dr Howard adds that we should learn from the Swiss, whose law prohibits the elderly and disabled from being assisted. He is mistaken. Swiss law allows anyone without a selfish motive, whether medically qualified or not, to assist anyone to take their own life, and for any reason.
Professor John Keown
Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, Washington

Parents know best

Sir, I am surprised how long it has taken for some branches of the medical profession to recognise the importance of a parent’s gut instinct during a medical consultation (“Parents really do know best when their child is sick”, news, May 30). Since my paediatric training at the superb Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children in Brighton over 60 years ago, I have followed two rules during my subsequent medical career. First, every child has meningitis until proven otherwise. Second, the mother is always right. I am convinced that these rules prevented me making many mistakes over the years.
Dr Bill Pagan
Holton, Suffolk

Threat of strikes

Sir, I note that junior doctors, GPs and consultants threaten to bring the NHS to a standstill. How will I notice?
David Kneeshaw
Speldhurst, Kent

Let’s drink to that

Sir, The recommendation from Professor David Nutt that we should consume no more than a large glass of wine a year (news, May 31) initially created some tension in a happy marriage of more than 40 years. However, as my wife and I were unable to agree whether the glass should be consumed on Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve or one of our birthdays, we eventually reached a compromise and agreed not to change our existing drinking habits.
Stephen Ingram
Sheffield

Rise of the robots

Sir, The economist Daniel Susskind believes school staff should spend a third of their day teaching pupils how to use artificial intelligence (news, May 30). Valuable time is that spent by students discovering knowledge and learning to think for themselves, not sitting in front of a screen working out how to seek shortcuts through technology. Of course AI will be an important part of their world, but let’s not waste too much educational time teaching something they will pick up and use intuitively.
Alastair Armstrong
History teacher; Edinburgh

Sir, Your article says that ministers are hoping to save £36 billion a year “to be realised over the long term” by using AI to replace up to 50,000 civil service jobs (news, May 30). Will AI platforms pay tax and national insurance so that the government will be able to pay benefits to all these unemployed people?
Fiona Kelsey
Hexham, Northumberland

Everest’s peak peril

Sir, I agree with Robert Crampton about the annual circus on Everest (comment, May 31). A hundred years ago the mountain was an inviolate, sacred site. Now it is little more than another backdrop for the TikTok narcissists. No one “conquers” the mountain, but all involved are complicit in trashing it. Surely it is time to give Everest a rest.
Kevin Hill
Scraptoft, Leics

I beg your pardon?

Sir, May I add to the list of annoying misuses of the English language (letters, May 30 & 31): “with regards to”. And also the seemingly ever-growing American emphasis on the second syllable of “harassment”. President Trump hasn’t taken us over yet.
Christopher Bell
Sevenoaks, Kent

Sir, The most annoying mispronunciation? Surely the pronunciation of pronunciation as pronounciation.
Rob Gregory
Hartpury, Glos

Sir, Many years ago our young daughter was drawing an Easter picture with Jesus in it. I was baffled when she asked me why he had two names, until the penny dropped when she spoke the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father who art in Heaven, Harold be thy name.”
Lynne Hughes
Liverpool

Pedal to the metal

Sir, Like Libby Purves (comment, May 30), I enjoy the challenge of driving a car with a gear stick — listening to the engine, choosing the right moment to change down with a double clutch. My 1934 Aston has a further challenge: the accelerator, like many pre-war cars, is the middle pedal. You only muddle the foot challenge once.
Katharine Minchin
Easebourne, W Sussex

Sir, Ann Treneman writes fondly of the old gear shifts on steering wheels, or “three on a tree” (Notebook, May 31). The best one was the quaint version that protruded horizontally from the dashboard in an old Citroën 2CV. It was a great place from which to hang the weekend takeaway.
Mrs Phil Proud
Leicester

Bye-bye to bidets?

Sir, Ann Treneman’s piece on the decline of bidets (Notebook, May 31) reminded me of being told, on first becoming a non-executive director, that its function was “rather like a bidet”: no one quite knows what it’s for, but it smartens the place up a bit. I later discovered that a more apposite comparative was a supermarket trolley: they both have a mind of their own, but there is a difference — you can cram more food and drink into a non-executive director.
Neil Kennedy
Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex

Sir, There was a time when bidets were a rarity even in Europe. Billy Wilder’s wife asked him to source one when he was visiting Paris. He replied by telegram: “Unable obtain bidet. Suggest handstand in shower.”
Joanne Aston
Thirsk, N Yorks

Write to letters@thetimes.co.uk