Taking inspiration from the young climate strikers

I see the government is planning to spend £10m on a rebrand of the National Citizen Service, creating a brand identity that will “live and breathe through every touchpoint in our customer journey” (Struggling councils criticise £10m Citizen Service revamp, 15 March). Instead of paying for this (literal) nonsense, why not put the money behind the work of the brave and inspirational activist schoolchildren who led the climate strike, trying to make sure our ability to live and breathe in the real world is not curtailed (Young activists around the world: why I’m striking today, 15 March)? This is a real “customer journey” we should all be working to save – what better (Inter)National Citizen Service could there possibly be?
Antony Scott
Yatton, Somerset

• I cannot imagine how the children striking to protest at our inaction in the face of the climate emergency will feel to learn that Shell’s chief executive, Ben van Beurden, was paid over £17m in 2018 (Shell CEO’s pay more than doubles, 14 March) for his contribution to a company that maintains carbon emissions. Shell’s statement that this remuneration was in part for “framing a methodology for aligning with the Paris agreement” is akin to congratulating a murderer for writing a biography of the lives his victims could have lived. It demonstrates an awareness of how controversial this level of pay is, but complete disregard for the devastation they are responsible for and their effect on future generations. I pray that those generations show more compassion in the coming years than, frankly, we deserve.
Dave Hunter
Bristol

• How can one man spend this amount, 15 March)? It is equivalent to the amount of budget cut suffered by Conwy county borough council for next year that has caused a 9.6% increase in council tax, an increase in school meal prices, and social care services disappearing. Let’s hope the full £17.2m is subject to income tax.
Dafydd Aled Williams
Penrhyn Bay, Conwy

• I saw many children and heard their voices raised against climate change as I walked through St Peter’s Square in Manchester on Friday and I was reminded that this year is the 200th anniversary of the Peterloo massacre, which occurred near that site. It was good to see the spirit of protest that echoes down the centuries is alive and well.
Sylvia Edwards
Sale, Greater Manchester

• The half-page ad for ridiculously cheap British Airways flights to Venice on the same page as your report on kids striking around the world to tackle climate change really makes their point. Well done.
Steve Holloway
Chichester

• Here in London at least half the rush-hour traffic is “the school run”. If all those kids marching against climate change told their parents they wanted to walk to school, that would be a start.
David Reed
London

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