Climate anxiety increases teens’ fears | Short letters

Gaby Hinsliff makes a good point (What makes today’s teens so pessimistic about the future? Maybe it’s the present, March 5). However, she writes about the present as if we are not in the midst of a climate crisis that threatens all life on Earth. She omits any mention of the impact of this on young people. A survey of 10,000 of them found high levels of fear and anxiety about the climate that were correlated with “perceived inadequate government response and associated feelings of betrayal” (The Lancet Planetary Health, 2021). In addition to adequate government action, young people are likely to feel supported by columnists who recognize their plight.
Breda Kingston
Bath

No one can claim these foods are good for you (Ultra-processed foods linked to 32 adverse health effects, review findings, Feb. 28), But isn’t it possible that it is not the UPF that leads to bad outcomes, but poor health that leads to the use of UPF?
Dena Visser
Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA

Your caption on the 6-0 defeat of Sheffield United in the print edition (March 5) read: “Blunt Blades brutally hammered”. Since we were playing Arsenal, not West Ham, it should definitely have said: “…brutally outwitted”.
Penny Nun
SUFC season ticket holder, Coventry

Quelle surprise: the Office for Budgetary Responsibility is under fire again. Presumably because of the ‘Treasury orthodoxy’ that the rest of us call math (What are Britain’s ‘fiscal rules’ and why is the OBR under attack?, March 5).
So Hardman
Woodbridge, Suffolk

I could hug James Timpson (Opinion, March 5). I have long admired his enlightened policy of giving ex-cons a job opportunity.
Brenda Edwards
Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria