AFTER five years of Labour in office promising to be 'tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime', the law and order establishment has singly failed to deliver.

Amongst the most worrying aspects is the problem of youthful law-breakers.

Estelle Morris is quite right in the matter of truancy, often the harbinger of criminal activity, to say that parents should be held responsible, as indeed they should be for other anti-social behaviour on the part of

their youngsters.

Unfortunately, in so many ways there is official inconsistency which undermines parental authority and discipline.

One example is the way 'family planning' (sic) clinics collude with girls (and boys) having underage sex behind parents' backs.

Such young girls often enter inappropriate relationships, are seduced into the drug scene, making the common progression from 'soft' drugs to hard drugs and all the

associated self-destructive lifestyle.

Other fashionable assaults on the traditional family simply aggravates the growing problem.

It is silly to ignore the situation.

Dr.

John Findlater

Silverdale