I fully appreciate that co-operative societies are held to higher ethical standards than conventional businesses but your coverage of the discovery that Midcounties Co-op had been unknowingly paying some workers below the minimum wage was somewhat melodramatic (Report, 26 September). Its response has been exemplary. What is shocking is that in Britain in 2016 we have people over the age of 60 undertaking newspaper delivery rounds that were once the preserve of school girls and boys.
Nick Matthews
Chair, Co-operatives UK, Manchester
• When I worked at what is now HMRC (admittedly 50 years ago), one of the criteria for classing someone as self-employed was that they needed to do work for more than one company. If someone worked solely for one employer, that person was automatically deemed to be an employee. Under that rule people employed solely by Hermes, Uber etc would be classed as employees. I’d be interested to know when and why the rules were changed.
Janice Jowett
Ormskirk, Lancashire
• In line with other welfare payments, should not farm subsidies be means-tested?
Dr John Doherty
Vienna, Austria
• Try Chambers revised 13th edition for a definition of flava (Letters, 27 September). A dictionary from the current century is always useful for crosswords.
Mike Hall
Leek, Staffordshire
• What should be the penalty for causing an accident while gesturing disapproval at another driver who is on the phone (Letters, 22 September)?
John Cranston
Norwich
