Laugh if anyone claims we live in a police state

THERE are currently 110,000 police constables in the UK which includes all those holding supervisory office and in the many and various departments, squads, teams and suchlike which have proliferated in recent times.

It does not include the Metropolitan Police Commissioner who holds a Royal Appointment, hence the title, and who has no police powers.

Break that down and it means each is responsible for about 545 citizens based on a population of 60 million. Then consider that about 35% do not patrol the street in any guise.

We are then left with a figure or around 71,500. The next consideration is that a number work on night shifts, so that breaks down to a total of 17,875 who might actually walk past someone’s house on any given day, but they are spread countrywide so the chances are remote. In the former German Democratic Republic it was claimed that one in three people were members of the Stasi (secret police) or were informers. This was backed by a paper trail left when the Berlin Wall came down. They did not trust computers and had no time to destroy all those mountains of files and records.

So if you hear anyone complain about the UK being a police state have a laugh, it is rubbish. The figures also set straight the reason you rarely see a constable on a beat now. An additional factor is the effect computers and central control have had on personal workloads. Bobbies on bicycles two by two? Forget it.

David Prichard Rumney, Cardiff Universal Credit is hardly civilised

THE new Universal Credit is still causing great distress to many claimants, although Amber Rudd, the new Minister for Work and Pensions, promises the system is working.

For one thing, people who are used to being paid weekly will find monthly payments leave them floundering towards the nearest food bank.

Regular media reports suggest the system can be as callous as a ferret in a rabbit hutch. Townies should phone a country friend to understand that remark.

Amber Rudd has much sorting out to do to make Universal Credit civilised.

Max Nottingham Lincoln

New leader needs to get M4 moving

IT amazes me what planet the Welsh Assembly Government is on.

On the one hand it talks of encouraging business into Wales, and on the other hand makes it as difficult as possible to operate here, by their actions or inactions.

Cost-wise having to duplicate correspondence in Welsh/English for

In the former GDR it was claimed that one in three people were members of the Stasi or were informers