Sir, Janan Ganesh writes that “Theresa May is a Stoic” (“How a stiff upper lip can soothe the masses in testing times”, October 15). But in one important respect she is not. The Stoics thought that extending the reach of our concerns, to as wide a circle of people as possible, was part of moral virtue and the virtuous life. The ancient philosopher Epictetus asks, in pursuit of such a life: “ . . . what has anyone to do, but, like Socrates, when he is asked what Countryman he is, never to say that he is a citizen of Athens, or of Corinth; but of the World?” The prime minister tells us she has little time for “citizens of the world” like, presumably, Socrates and the Stoics who agreed with him, preferring a less expansive approach. Whatever that approach is called, it is not Stoic. Owen Kelly PhD Student, Dept of Philosophy,