'THE DIRT in question is human,' Michael Foot writes in
our correspondence cplumns, complain- ing of my recent comments on prostitution in London : 'the carpet may be a prison cell.' I thought I had made it clear that the dirt I was referring to was not prostitution itself, but the way in which that trade had become a public nuisance. Nobody, after all, suggests that people should be forbidden to urinate : but it is reason- able to ask that nobody should urinate in the street. When I urged that dirt should be swept under the carpet, •I had in mind the experience of friends of mine who live in the West End. They complain that if they invite a girl to their flat after dark they have to advise her not to come on foot; for if she does, she will almost certainly be accosted either by loitering men or, more often, by the drivers of cars, some of whom are inclined to use threatening language if she does not stop. This is common in many parts of London : and I am surprised that Mr. Foot should seek to justify it. The alternative is not, of course, 'a prison cell.' Other countries con- trive to prevent prostitution from becoming a public nuisance without making it a penal offence : why not Britain?
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