The backwardness of this Labour Government's obsession with class
I cannot quite see how this accords with the statement by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, that 'there should be no barriers to young people having the chance to decide on their own futures' ('Reeves: Defence shut out at job fairs', report, August 2).
Geoffrey Budden
Norton, Suffolk
SIR – Pat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister, has defended the change to Civil Service internships.
This Labour Government should be encouraging the Civil Service simply to take on the most promising people, rather than constantly agonising over individuals' backgrounds. The latest move is nothing but discrimination.
Avril Wright
Ingoldisthorpe, Norfolk
SIR – The Government's apparent definition of 'working-class' is odious. Anyone who is employed, draws a wage or receives a salary is a worker.
It's time we stopped thinking in crude class terms.
Nigel Carter
Devizes, Wiltshire
SIR – Would the children of train drivers – some of whom earn about £65,000 – really be considered working-class?
Brian Hoffmann
York
SIR – The trouble with insisting that the Civil Service is and must remain a 'meritocracy' is that we encourage a cohort that considers itself rather superior.
Instead of faithfully assisting the government of the day to implement the will of the people, some civil servants prefer to promote their own political views, often to the detriment of official policy. We should recruit broadly into the Civil Service, but quickly root out those who consider their personal idealism to be above their service to the country.
Colonel Mark Rayner (retd)
Eastbourne, East Sussex
SIR – The reference in your Leading Article (August 2) to the Northcote-Trevelyan report – which suggested that the Civil Service attracted the 'unambitious', 'indolent' and 'incapable' – reminded me of a conversation I had at a social event last summer. One of the guests, who worked in the private sector, was complaining how much more taxing her job was than that of her friend, who worked for Transport for London (not part of the Civil Service, but public-sector).
When I asked her why she didn't apply to work there, her friend said there were few vacancies. No one wants to leave because it's such a cushy number.
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