AMID the torrent of news relayed by television and radio stations during the festive season, one segment in particular gave me more indigestion than the mountain of food and drink I downed.

No it wasn't Princess Anne's bull terrier savaging the Queen's corgi; the continuing violence in Iraq; the death toll from the terrible earthquake in Iran; the shooting of unarmed policemen; the murder of a mum and her two children or any of the other national, and local, horrors which, sadly, have become commonplace in the 21st century.

It was the bone-jarring disclosure that serial killer Dr Harold Shipman had had certain "privileges", including his TV and the right to wear civilian clothes, taken away as "punishment" for breaching prison discipline. I kid you not.

Now label me a member of the flog 'em, hang 'em brigade if you must, but am I wrong in believing that murderers, especially those as wicked as "Doctor Death", are supposed to be punished for the crimes?

Access to television -- unless being forced to watch endless reruns of Des and Mel -- is hardly a punishment. And what about the other perks, such as gym and games facilities, which killers like Shipman and Ian Huntley can enjoy, though I believe one, possibly both, are denied the company of other inmates who may be waiting the chance to exact punishment of their own.

Huntley, Shipman and others of their ilk are not deserving of the kind of liberal treatment they get in prison. If the most severe sentence they can be legally given under the present jurisdiction is "life", then it should be exactly that, with no hope of remission or the availability of certain comforts.

They took away the life of their victims and created a permanent hell for those closest to them, for whom memories of the way family members were murdered will be ever-present. The thought of Huntley watching television in his comfy, solo cell, possibly with a guard on 24-hour suicide watch, must leave the parents of Holly and Jessica feeling bitter. They could be forgiven for wanting the killer of their daughters fed to Princess Anne's bull terrier.

I am not the only one who believes the law seems angled in favour of those who break it, rather than the innocents left traumatised, brutalised or dead. And it has got more to do with instilling fear in lawbreakers than exacting revenge, though, if I am honest, revenge sounds good to me.

I have written at length how the world has changed so dramatically in my lifetime. Yet another example is that of Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. Their crimes in the 1960s triggered loathing and revulsion which lasted for years. Even now their names bring similar reactions from people who were around at the time.

But we have become immune to violence, so used to having it pumped into our homes via the ubiquitous TV that the power to shock has evaporated. That's why Shipman, Huntley and the rest are horrors one day, "denied prison rights" the next. I give up.