Mr Heath's striptease
Sir: May I comment on Auberon Waugh's dissection of the Codex Croydoniensis (14 February)?
Most interesting of all were his remarks on the belated decision to give pensions to the few remaining old people outside the state scheme, but so was his typical description of Heath's East of Suez plan as 'disastrous and crazy'. Why the former proposal is 'rather incompetent' I cannot imagine—it is a dis- grace that these people have been ignored by both parties up to now, but surely better late than never? And why is the suggestion of a modest partnership in South-East Asia 'disastrous and crazy'? It is good for us, it is good for the countries in the area and it won't cost much—and you can't ask fairer than that.
On the question of making law and order an election issue Mr Waugh is dead right. Few people would disagree with the actual proposals in the Codex, but the idea that the Conservatives are more efficient dispensers of justice than Labour is nonsense, and to can- vass the vague spectre of 'law and order' in a growing atmosphere of election euphoria is a cheap and shameful gimmick.
Geoffrey Kennard Secretary, OUCA, Christ Church, Oxford
Sir: Mr Auberon Waugh (14 February) states that 'nobody's life is seriously incon- venienced by revolting students, or burg- lars, or skinheads—outside the universities, the burglar-belt of Westminster, Chelsea and South Kensington, and a few seaside resorts'. I live in a new town, and whilst we have no university, I can assure him that hooligans, despite an exceedingly efficient police force, remain active, particularly on mild dark nights, that reports of vandalism are alarm- ingly frequent, and that the local newspaper, in a front page lead story a few months ago described the situation in one street neighbouring my home as constituting a 'reign of terror'. I can certainly testify that one is increasingly subjected to insults and taunts when walking home from work, and on Saturday evenings buses have refused to take on passengers at the town centre be- cause of rowdyism and fear of attack. In the sophisticated atmosphere of the metro-
polls or in remote country districts it is easy to laugh off such fears, but they are all too real to many ordinary citizens who will be grateful to Mr Hogg and the Shadow Cabinet for proposing measures to deal with the menace.
George Chowdharay-Best 174 Clay Hill Road, Basildon, Essex
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