Prison doesn’t work? It does for the victims
DOMINIC LAWSON’S argument about being ‘tough on crime’ (Mail) was exactly right.
the ‘senior government figure’ he mentioned in his recent article needs to stop worrying that ‘the cost of prisons is taking up more of the Ministry of Justice budget’ and concentrate on the cost to the rest of us when criminals are left to roam free — that is, (fortunately for politicians) the ‘hidden’ cost to the police service, the nHS, social services, fire and ambulance services, aSBos, domestic violence, pupil referral units, broken families, etc.
Politicians count the things that are easy to count, such as police numbers, instead of those that are hard and hidden, such as the misery, pain and harm caused that matter to law-abiding citizens.
Justice Secretary Dominic Raab is right to concentrate on expanding the number of prison places until the criminals are all inside and everyone else can lead safer and happier lives. His critics, including the Howard League for Penal Reform, are wrong to assert that locking up criminals doesn’t work. It does. It’s letting them out again that doesn’t.
Dr J. e. CHAMBeRLIN,
Ashbourne, Derbys.
Mixed monarchs
DR ELIZABETH STEWART (Letters) fails to realise that ever since the Church of england was created by serial adulterer Henry vIII, adultery has been no barrier to the crowning of a monarch.
age has never been an issue, either. our monarchy is just a historical thread that acts as a constant reminder of who we are and how we survived as a nation.
as with all humans, there are good and bad monarchs. In 21stcentury Britain, the monarchy is symbolic more of tradition than of power. We should be grateful we have no expensive, power-hungry president trying to push through his or her personal ambitions.
Leave Charles and Camilla to live their lives their way. I am no
royalist, just sick of the cruel comments and constant put-downs.
Mrs MARY DALTON, Coventry.
Spare us, please
HAVING read Prince Harry’s book, Spare, I realise he has no grasp of what starting married life is like for most people.
they don’t have several million pounds in the bank, a mansion, a massive personal income and staff to do all the routine daily tasks.
the Prince also seemed to think that being chauffeur-driven somewhere to cut a ribbon and shake a few hands constitutes a job.
Perhaps he gets his mindset from his uncle andrew, who believes he is entitled to a £30 million house, servants, an income and status despite his dubious record as a trade envoy, his unfortunate friendship with Jeffrey epstein, and the fact that he does absolutely nothing.
G. MATTHeWS, Lancaster. HoW wonderful to see in tesco’s charity book section a pristine copy of Prince Harry’s Spare, for 50p. a bit of a drop from the recommended retail price of £28 but still overpriced.
MIKe O’HARA, Birchington, Kent.
Drag stupidity
WHAT kind of school invites a drag queen to speak to 11-yearolds on the subject of gender (Mail)? It’s time the Department for education put a stop to this dangerous nonsense.
CHRIS SHARP, Leeds.
Right to die
THE Mail’s Dr Max Pemberton wrote movingly about all the terminally ill people he had seen suffering greatly, who wanted death to come quickly instead of being drawn-out and painful.
However, despite this, Dr Max said he wouldn’t vote for assisted dying in case vulnerable people were coerced into it by mercenary relatives. Yet the evidence from some u.S. states, australia and new Zealand, where tightly drawn laws allow medically assisted dying as a choice for terminally ill people, shows this has not been a problem.
the safeguards offer far more protection to patients than the laws we have presently in the uK, where someone could conceivably be coerced into stopping lifesustaining treatment, travelling abroad for an assisted death, or taking their own life. It is the ban on assisted dying that poses the greatest danger to patients.
A. WILLS, Ruislip, Middx.
Dream Budget
THE tv announcer said, here are the main points of the Chancellor’s spring Budget: Corporation tax will be cut to 15 per cent to stimulate economic growth. Personal tax allowances will rise in line with inflation.
Stamp duty will be halved to help the housing sector. there’ll be a mandatory return to full-time work for all civil service employees, on pain of having their pensions modified. and a new tax will curb excess profiteering in the financial, energy and insurance sectors.
then I woke up. G. MORRIS, Southwick, Wilts.
Chin up, Rishi
WHENEVER I see a picture of our Prime Minister with another world leader, he is leaning forward with a hunched back and so looks as if he is kowtowing. Would somebody tell him to stand with his head high and shoulders back, so he looks like the leader he is. SYLVIA SONTAG, Spalding, Lincs.
Lost in translation
IN LANCASHIRE 50 years ago, ‘cock’ was a term of affection (Letters). But when we visited my pen-friend in america, she was shocked when my husband said this to one of our children. She took me aside to explain the word had sexual connotations there.
In return, I said nothing whenever she impatiently told her son or daughter to ‘Get your f***y over here, now’.
Mrs e. HAWORTH,
address supplied.