Sir: If it could be proved beyond doubt that David
McManus would not have been murdered if A Clockwork Orange had not been licensed, would this prove the case for stricter censorship of films? It is obviously inconceivable to Mr William Spring and his supporters that anyone could doubt that it would. I doubt it.
Many thousands of people have been killed, and many more maimed and mutilated, by privately owned motor cars. Everybody knows this, but nobody calls for the legal prohibition of private motoring. There is not even any very strong pressure to force motorists to behave more responsibly — by, for example, giving the police pow
ers to make random tests with the breathalyser. Evidently it is felt that the pleasure and freedom of motorists is worth even this price in death and suffering. Well I, and millions of other well behaved citizens, greatly enjoyed A Clockwork Orange. What makes out pleasure and freedom so much less valuable?
If minimising the chances of anyone getting hurt or killed is the highest political good we had all better forget the word ' freedom' as soon as we can.
D. Watkins ' Gaycroft,' Laleston, Brigend, Glamorgars.
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