MY friends know that I am a patient man. I have just read Geoff Pollitt's attempt to reply to me (Bolton Evening News, May 15) for the sixth time, in an attempt to grasp the essence of his argument.

His main belief appears to be that the use of physical force inflicting pain by the strong on the weak generates respect and compliant obedience -- precisely the moral stance, when you think about it, of the thug who beats-up pensioners.

If your correspondent seriously does not believe that street crime was endemic towards the end of the 19th century, and considers that Jerome Caminada is a poor witness, he should double check on the writings of Mayhew and Charles Dickens.

The problem with people like your correspondent, who insists on asking the wrong questions, is that they usually come up with the wrong answers. The question most worth asking is "how was it that from about 1900, for most of the century, we enjoyed relative calm and stability?" I don't even pretend to know the answer, but at least I think that is the right question..

We currently imprison a higher percentage of our adult population than any other West European state, and our prison conditions are anything but congenial (ask anybody who has been inside). And clearly Mr Pollitt's deterrents are not working! And we will not be reintroducing corporal punishment in schools, not least because it would run counter to the UN Charter on Human Rights. And a final troubling question. If our European neighbours (all of them !) can bring about relative social peace without physical brutality (as they do), what is it with us Brits?

Peter Johnston

Kendal Road

Bolton