SIR – I’ve been sceptical in the past when school leavers say they are looking for work but there is nothing available but I now have a lot more sympathy following my recent experience. 
My 17-year-old daughter found herself at the beginning of September, through no fault of her own,  officially classed as a NEET. She has applied for around 100 positions, temporary, full time, part time and apprenticeships. NOTHING.
The frustrating part is it is very rare that employers respond. She has had one interview for a part time position. It is very hard as a parent to stay positive and say the right words. 
My daughter has now found a college course for 12  months. She has had no support from anyone, apprenticeship agencies, colleges etc. She started volunteering at a charity shop so she could gain experience, this hasn’t helped. She left school with 11 GSCE’s including maths and English and still nothing. 
Why are we making it so hard for our young people? So if any employers are reading this, please give our young people a chance.
H WEST
Worcester


New law will threaten our basic civil rights
SIR – I wonder how many readers are aware that the Government is trying to pass laws which threaten some of our basic civil rights.
They are threatening the right to strike, defend our work and pay, and stand up for decent services. It’s astonishing too that people wanting to protest would have to register with the police and declare their intentions to use Twitter.
Together, the laws would tilt the balance heavily towards employers at a time when zero-hour contracts are being widely imposed and job insecurity is rife.
This heavy handed approach is unnecessary – strike action is the last resort for workers, and we’re not a country plagued by strikes. The fact that the Government is threatening how union political funds are collected leads to the conclusion that they just want to gag opposition.
At the same time, families and neighbourhoods could be bitterly divided if the Government succeeds in its aim to allow agency temps – often from our community – to fill in when employees do go on strike.
I’m urging your readers to email their MP now to ask him or her to vote against the Trade Union Bill. I also urge readers to ask their MP to vote to keep the ban on employers using agency workers to break strikes.
BRENDON ALLEN
Worcester & Hereford Amal

We are doing the right thing on refugees
SIR – The bishops’ letter demanding that this country should take in another 25,000 Syrians show both the continued ‘Dianification’ of our national life and the tragic loss of the Church of England’s moral compass as it increasingly regards its mission as a combination of politics and social work. The bishops are fundamentally factually and morally wrong:
l Our country is spending over £1 billion to care for refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, the largest amount after the USA.
l It is highly immoral to privilege a few people who can come to the UK over the millions who must stay in and around the conflict zone.
l If we take Christians and other minorities we are helping Arab states get rid of their Christian citizens as they have done with their Jews, and if we take Sunnis they are coming from one of the most heavily sectarian parts of the Middle East.
l Syrians are coming from an ‘honour shame’ culture to Western civilisation based on individualism and the Enlightenment. We have not yet integrated other migrants from those cultures. 
l We took in 100,000 Somalis. Almost none have returned. Many have acquired British citizenship and have the lowest employment rate of any UK community. They have become another voting block for Labour as it is the party for people on benefits.
‘Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing’ is a wise precept. Britain is being generous in the right way, providing help both practically and morally rather that the bishops’ vain grandstanding.
FRANCIS  LANKESTER
Worcester

Give job to Sally Army
SIR – If St Paul’s and Magg’s was run by the Salvation Army, both places would probably be managed in a more disciplined way and at less cost to taxpayers.
MISS C BAYLISS 
St John’s, Worcester