Loss of respect
From Philip Brooks by Sir: One can only sympathise with David Loyibond as he watches his home town of Devizes descend into a quagmire ('Town and out', 11 October). But I do not think that more bobbies on the beat is any sort of answer. One might as well wish for the return of the Ovaltinies. It suited the time; when burglars wore hooped sweaters and black masks, and would utter the immortal phrase 'It's a fair cop, guy' upon being nicked. It was an age of respect and deference, which will almost certainly never return. Who would want to be a policeman, on his own and armed only with a truncheon, facing a gang of low-lifes?
No, what is needed is a complete change of attitude in society as a whole — and fear that one might just as well whistle. In the end, we get what we deserve. Now is the age of 'human rights', in whose name just about anything goes. It is in our name that, time and again, we see the police being thwarted and criticised on highly questionable grounds in their efforts to bring prosecutions. It is with our permission that sentencing is deferred 'pending social reports'. It is we who invent quasimedical expressions such as 'road rage' for antisocial behaviour, thus accepting the absence of personal responsibility on the part of the perpetrator. We elect or employ people who decide that we should have a quota of 'social housing' in our new estates.
If we are not happy with all of this, then why do we accept it? Dare one suggest a turn to the Right?
Philip Brooksby
Penarth. Vale of Glamorgan
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