Haunted by the faces of 27 knife crime victims

THE haunting faces of the 27 teens stabbed to death in the past year (Mail) was sobering.

Becoming a victim of knife crime could happen to any of us. Politicians and law-makers live in high security homes and are protected by minders.

MPs utter some rhetoric aimed at placating the families and the nation, and then go back to their self-serving lives. All they seem to be worried about is Brexit and their pay rise.

As for the rest of us, except at election time, they don’t give a damn. What a disgrace.

A. J. SMiTH, March, Cambs. OuR children are growing up in a virtual world in which, armed to the teeth, they commit crimes and get rewarded for the number they dispatch, be they soldiers, aliens or hedgehogs.

Playing computer games, they kill with impunity, do not learn empathy and suffer no repercussions. If they lose, they just get up and start again.

Along with drugs, could violent computer games be a factor in the rise in knife crime? ROY GLASS, Bolton, Gtr Manchester.

No deterrent

MY CAR boot security team apprehended a man who had stolen a wallet and mobile phone.

The police were called and drugs were found on him. He was arrested, but to my surprise, I came face to face with him a couple of days later.

Where is the deterrent to commit a crime? TONY DALESSiO, Peterborough, Cambs.

Home truths

I HAVE every sympathy with the Leeds couple whose new-build home by Persimmon had 700 defects (Mail). When I bought a house from Taylor Wimpey, I was given the opportunity to inspect it before moving in and counted 40 obvious faults. But when I later received the keys, not one had been dealt with.

Within a month of moving in, water started to pour out of a power point and the toilet overflowed due to a brick in a pipe.

BT and the builders argued for days about my phone connection until the newly laid road was dug up to reveal there was no cable.

The site manager worked his way grudgingly though my list of faults until all had been rectified. However, the builders left before the grounds of the estate were completed. I would never buy a new house again. KENNETH SHARMAN,

Petersfield, Hants.

Speed rules

I ADMIRE the determination of the couple who clocked 133,000 speeding cars in Staplehurst in a week (Mail).

I live in the next village, where drivers frustrated by continual traffic jams floor the accelerator past my house. Shockingly, the fastest recorded time was 81 mph in a 30 mph zone.

However, it appears the information gathered by the parish council’s speed indicator is just ‘noted’. The police do not have the resources to follow it up.

I fear the residents of Staplehurst are wasting their time.

DAVE HiLL, Goudhurst, Kent.

Dirty Britain

I VISITED Gerona in Spain, which is very like my home town of Canterbury, with a lovely cathedral and coachloads of tourists.

The difference is the lack of litter. It’s not due to an army of sanitation workers and streets filled with litter bins, but a different attitude to the environment.

Perhaps our councils could ask their Spanish opposite numbers how it’s done. Mrs JOCELYN THOMSON,

Canterbury, Kent. On HOLIDAY in Australia, we didn’t see rubbish, only signs saying: ‘Take your litter home.’ MARGARET NODEN, Orihuela Costa, Spain.

Friend in need

FROM stick thin models who may cause our daughters to devalue themselves to the extraordinary advice to avoid tubby friends (Good Health).

Whatever happened to accepting people for who they are and seeing the good in them, no matter their size?

Instead of labelling and shunning friends in a bid to be healthier yourselves, let’s encourage them to share our lifestyle.

SUE HERWOOD, Blakesley, Northants. AVOID tubby friends? That’s how to be lonely. Friends are people you can always turn to in times of trouble. To avoid them because they are overweight is pathetic. TONY RATCLiFFE, Stockport, Gtr Manchester.

Mini adventures

I LOVED the article on Mary Quant’s former models (Inspire). But tweed mini skirts and pearls? Maybe in Belgravia. The rest of the country rocked tight tops and full skirts with stiff petticoats.

The revolution that brought about the mini skirt was the demise of suspenders and the advent of tights. LYNDA SHAW, Littlehampton, W. Sussex.