Readers reflect on an article about how working from no fixed location isn’t always the dream it’s made out to be

I enjoyed reading the stories of those who have had a taste of the nomadic lifestyle (‘My mind was shrieking: “What am I doing?”’ – when the digital nomad dream turns sour, 1 July). However, it seems that none of the problems they mentioned are actually related to nomadism. These are universal issues. Everything they didn’t like existed long before the words “digital nomad” entered our vocabulary. Slow internet? Trouble finding an apartment to rent? Unfamiliar food? Heat? People feeling disconnected from each other? All these are symptoms of our crazy times, and our task is to come up with ways to fix this together, rather than running to the office, where supposedly some of these problems will be solved (spoiler: they won’t).

A nomad doesn’t aim to recreate an exact replica of their life and everything they’re used to in a different place. The Roman lyric poet Horace, in his Odes, told us centuries ago: “They change their sky, not their soul, who rush across the sea.” No matter where people go, they carry their problems, personal histories and unhealthy habits with them. Our real job as human beings is to find meaningful new ways to cope with all this nomadic stuff in a psychologically healthy way.
Ivan Medvedev
Trento, Italy

Paula McInally says she was struggling with loneliness, but her volunteer work has now become the highlight of her week.

Your article on loneliness and making friends as an adult struck a chord with me (I was getting lonely. Here’s what happened when I tried to make new friends in my 30s, 1 July). I mostly work from home, and last year I hit a point where I was increasingly feeling disconnected, isolated and a little lost. My weekends felt long and quiet, sometimes painfully so. I was struggling.

In September, I made the choice to start volunteering, thinking it might fill a bit of time. I signed up to Sense’s virtual buddying scheme, which pairs disabled people with volunteers for weekly catchups.

Jeremy Corbyn’s new party | Lesson in politics | I got mail | Prom prices | Being cool | Weary acceptance | Signs of Christmas

A new party focused on poverty, inequality and “a foreign policy based on peace rather than war” (Report, 3 July). Oh Jeremy Corbyn, sign me up now. If you build it, we will come.
David Heley
Brighton, East Sussex

• When I did a politics course back in the 1970s, the lecturer told us that a large majority was just as difficult, and often more so, to handle than a small one (Welfare climbdown lets genie out of the bottle, and no one knows what happens next, 2 July). How right he was.
Elizabeth Goater
Salisbury

• Lionesses facing must-win game against Netherlands

• Hemp: ‘We’re going to make sure we’re back at our best’

Lauren Hemp said the Lionesses “thrive under pressure” after a 2-1 defeat by France plunged them into in effect a must-win game against the Netherlands on Wednesday.

England’s midfield collapse was concerning in their Euro 2025 opener, the team sloppy in possession and punished on the wings, but Hemp struck a defiant tone.

I saw that my toddler was annoying some passengers but the words of encouragement made a stressful situation a lot more bearable

• Read more in the kindness of strangers series

I had my eldest child when I was 19, and being a young mum can be tricky – I was used to feeling judged by other people in public.

One evening, I was on a crowded train home in Melbourne at peak hour, which is also witching hour for toddlers. My two-year-old son just started losing it, so I was distracting him with silly noises and games. It was largely working and he was mostly laughing and squealing with delight. I registered that it was annoying some passengers, but the alternative would have been much louder and annoying for us all. Making matters worse, no one offered me a seat, so we were standing up and bumping into other people, who were getting pissed off.