TO our wonderful teachers who look after our children. I do not mean any offence or disrespect but I cannot just accept the conditions we have found ourselves in.

Please no more strikes. Our children have the right to come to school. Another five days of strikes is a whole week of school missed or a whole week of time parents will take off work which could be used in the school holidays.

Or I guess an alternative is parents trying to work while children are at home which is not good for either the child or the parent.

Some children will be on tablets all day, some will be left home alone to fend for themselves at an in appropriate age. For some children school is a sanctuary, the safest place they have.

If we chose to not send our children to school for eight days we would be fined, so why should we accept when we are told we can not send them because the teachers are choosing not to work?

I am sure that many of us would love to take a holiday in term time and take advantage of the cheaper prices but most of us don't because we do the right thing and send our children to school when they are expected to be there.

Please think about the children, all of these disappointments and changes will be slowly shaping the people that they will become. When did we stop just being able to live?

No more strikes please.

Claire Vincent ,

Hardwicke Close,

York

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Where are the female candidates?

I READ with interest the run-down of election candidates for next month’s local elections in York. As a woman I am always concerned re: decisions being taken on my behalf with the expectation that, in 2023, there will be broader representation of the population here in the city.

Looking at this list filled me with some concern. While the Liberal Democrat Party has fallen short of reaching one quarter of its candidates being women, on closer inspection only 14 per cent of its candidates are women in seats that might be classed as winnable.

This is quite a staggering statistic for a so-called progressive political party. What is it about York Liberal Democrats that means it struggles to attract women candidates, or is it perhaps that the local party itself is not that interested in attracting women to its ranks?

Some might not think this a major issue, but I really believe it is. The often combative nature of politics and how politicians see different issues does depend on the makeup of political parties and it’s difficult to see how a party can be properly representative of one half of the population if it’s struggling to be made up by even 15 per cent women.

It’s an interesting observation anyway.

I daren’t even begin to look at the Conservatives, but then they don’t badge themselves as progressive unlike their political opponents.

Pat Wills,

Kensal Rise,

York

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Fuel for thought

I HEAR that the protest groups Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil are arranging for thousands of people to hold demonstrations in London to coincide with the London Marathon.

How much fuel, I wonder, are they using to get themselves there?

David Laverick,

Hobgate,

York