18 NOVEMBER 1960, Page 5

I am ashamed of my country . . .

I am ashamed that one of my countrymen can be kicked to death on a public foot- path by hooligans in search of money.

I am ashamed of a country which can think of nothing better to do with the youths who have committed this revolting crime than to copy their example of violence.

I am ashamed of a country where three deaths are reckoned as preferable to one.

I am ashamed of a law that compels or allows the one man who could have prevented that to withhold the reasons for his inaction.

I am ashamed that in my country bad men can be put to death without a chance to show their repentance.

I am ashamed that men can be found who, for a suitable wage, will build and main- tain in good repair an apparatus for strangling their fellow men.

I am ashamed that any of my countrymen are willing to operate such an apparatus, or as part of their official duties, to watch its correct operation on a living body.

I am ashamed of a country where the men who do these things, or who cause or permit them to be done, can put on their evening suits and go to public receptions and present themselves in civilised society.

Yes, I am ashamed of my country; and for this I could wish that I was not British.

Barbara Wootton