Gen Z finds faith while readers sound off on buskers, Trump and bin strikes

In MetroTalk: Gen Z are filling church pews, Birmingham bins are overflowing and buskers are dividing opinion. (Credits: Getty Images)

Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments.

Is Trump afraid ideas that aren’t his own?

The White House threatened to pull $2bn in federal funding, revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status and block it from enrolling international students unless demands are met (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Universities, such as Harvard, have built their reputations on carrying
out research into anything and everything in the universe –
hence their name.

Nothing is off-limits. Their investigations require people with knowledge, skills, understanding and ideas. They discuss their discoveries, and decide which potential truths are well-founded and which erroneous.

It is because of their diversity of learning, experience and points of view that sure knowledge is expanded.

Governments also require people with knowledge, skills, understanding and ideas. From them, potential policies emerge. Proposals are discussed and people decide which are good and bad.

It is from their diversity of knowledge, experience and points of view that government receives the best advice.

In both organisations, a wide range of opinions is critical for success.

No matter how long their discussions might last, legions of like-minded individuals seldom generate the novel and transformative ideas that both universities and governments require.

If Donald Trump wants to diminish the diversity of universities by purging them of left-leaning students and staff – he is freezing federal grants and making demands to curb ‘diversity’ initiatives – to be even-handed, should he not also curtail the diversity of his administration by purging it of right-leaning office holders and employees?

To get started, he need look no further than the Oval Office! John, Manchester

Bin strikes stink – but it’s still your job

Birmingham council refuse collectors go on with their strike, uncollected rubbish continues to pile up and cause rat infestations. (Picture: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Rob Slater (MetroTalk, Tue) asks why people blame the rubbish collectors of Birmingham for striking rather than governments for cutting the budgets of their council employers?

Can I point out that no one forced these fellows to become rubbish collectors. They knew the job they were signing up for. Yes I’ll blame the government for policy ‘mess’ but in terms of the literal stink, clean it up, bin men – it’s your job! Ellis Dodwell, London

Busker vs TfL: I know which I’d rather hear

Although I had no time for the activist known as Stop Brexit Man – cleared of flouting a ban on playing music outside parliament – or his choice of songs
such as The Muppet Show Theme
(I wonder what Statler and Waldorf
would have made of him) I would certainly – unlike Lester May (MetroTalk, Wed) – prefer to listen to a good tune
by a busker over the drivel that continuously pours out of the PA systems at train stations.

And incidentally, you can’t understand or hear half of these announcements. I’d rather give a busker a pound than feed it into the TfL kitty. Dec, Essex

Busking should be allowed – but not amplified

Regarding buskers in Leicester Square being served a noise abatement order. This is absolutely right.

Tubes and central London are a nightmare of competing noise. I am a musician and believe busking should, of course, be allowed – but 
not amplified. If you have to hear Coldplay and Ed Sheeran on repeat all day then at least it should be acoustic. And if you can’t be heard, get singing lessons. Catherine, London

Would you turn down a trip to space?

Katy Perry has been criticised for her joining Jeff Bezos’ rocket ride to space (Credits: Blue Origin/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock)

Amidst all the rather unfair and unwarranted criticism levelled at Katy Perry for taking that short trip into
space on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket – and who among us would really turn such an opportunity down if it were presented to us? – I think the one thing that’s being tragically overlooked is her response upon returning to Earth: she kissed the ground and she liked it.
Julian Self, Wolverton

Corner kicks gone wrong

In response to Allan Somerville from Bonnyrigg (MetroTalk, Wed) who asks why footballers take cornerkicks with the ball outside of the quarter circle. I too am frustrated with this. Why can’t footballers just do things properly? Ezza, Birmingham

One Metro can make a ward feel a little more like home

I am a student nurse and on my last placement I was on a hospital’s elderly and frailty ward.

One day, I had a patient who badly wanted to read a newspaper but the vendor who occasionally comes to the ward didn’t come that day. The patient was very disappointed.

So, on my next shift, I brought a couple of Metro newspapers to the ward, which
I collected from the Tube station on my way to the hospital.

When I handed the patient the newspaper, she was so happy. I gave other patients a copy and they were also very happy.

I realised that these small gestures can change people’s mood and brighten their days because, even if they are old and sick, sometimes bedbound or without family, they still need to be in touch with reality. Mihaela Filofteia Dumitru, via email