Pain of gambling Degree of disillusion
as a young man, i became addicted to gambling. i was married with two young children and earned a good salary, but i gambled every day in betting shops.
it was not long before i was in a lot of debt and didn’t have enough money to pay for food for my family. With the help of my father and my wife’s grandmother, i eventually cleared my debts of several thousand pounds. i never gambled again.
The government should introduce a betting tax on stakes and winnings. it might put off some gamblers while raising cash for Treasury coffers.
Name supplied, Chigwell, Essex. i agRee with the insightful article by John humphrys about greedy universities (mail).
The false division of children into sheep and goats resulted in politicians trying to get half of pupils into university, destroying technical colleges in the process.
half of children are not academic, but everyone has something to contribute to society. The pandemic has shown the value of practical and caring skills.
Too many jobs ask for degrees when they actually could be done by qualified apprentices.
a lot of degree courses lead to false expectations, resulting in graduates ending up in jobs for which they are not suited.
JULIE C. ROUND, Worthing, W. Sussex. i am the father of two children with meaningless degrees — their choices, not mine.
We need to put the term ‘artisan’ on an equal footing with the word academic to begin to repair the damage done by Tony Blair.
We should also restore the word ‘apprentice’ to its true meaning and stop it being used as a guise for cheap labour.
Name supplied, Luton, Beds.
YoungsTeRs should have the chance to learn a trade and get a job instead of accumulating massive university debts that a lot of them will never be able to repay. JILL COPLAND, Etchingham, E. Sussex. uniVeRsiTies have been transformed from seats of learning into multi-million-pound businesses in which vice-chancellors pay themselves footballers’ salaries and leave students with debt. MALCOLM ROBERTS,
St Austell, Cornwall.