A la mode
Sir: In the days of the Roman Empire it was common practice to expose unwanted babies. As the world became less barbaric, this practice stopped. One may well wonder whether the practice has now returned in England—in principle if not always in method under the working of the Abortion Act. (In a recent inquiry into the death of a baby which had been legally aborted and which drew attention to itself by crying on its way to the incinerator, the head of the premature baby unit said death was 60 pei cent due to cold and exposure.) Now we have the possibility in England ('Spectator's notebook', 28 June) of coition between men and women on the stage in the interests of art and reality. (Some• one else has pointed out that on this prin ciple we can no longer allow death to be feigned on the stage either.) If it becomes accepted on the stage, will it stop there? Will it not be soon expected everywhere?
Indeeed. we hear about a pressure group which is agitating for the total abolition of all forms of censorship - in general behaviour, presumably, as in everything else. How long will it be before the public is conditioned to accept the prin- ciple that what any dog will do should be allowed to fashion the behaviour of men and women in the streets of England for those who so desire it (the government, of course, remaining neutral)?
Michael E. Bennett
Swindon Rectory, Cheltenham, Glos.
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