20 AUGUST 2005, Page 19

From Andrew Bryson

Sir: As a small ‘c’ conservative, I submit that the kind of ‘freedom’ currently being exercised so gleefully by the powerful men and women who run the advertising, print and broadcasting media urgently needs to be curbed either through state-run censorship or a new legal framework, or both. Yes, Big Brother and its kind should be taken off the air. Pornographic films like Nine Songs should not be given general release. The advertising trade, which has the power to put obscene advertisements along the public highway, should stop being allowed to regulate itself. In general, the large, and growing, section of the free market which takes a free ride on human sexuality and emotion should be called to account. It is we, and in particular our children, who pay the price for the damage done by cynical financial interests which fill their pockets while daring us to challenge their right to free expression.

Andrew Bryson London N1