In reply to Dr - of what? - Mike Cole (Letters, January 24), I went to Brighton College when Bill Blackshaw was headmaster.

Yes, he used the cane - some thought it to be a trophy - but he used it only as a final resort and during the period I spent at the college the number of times it was used was minimal.

Bill was a fair headmaster, hard and firm, but you could always go to him with a problem.

Corporal punishment did not harm me or my fellow students. Like me, the majority are now directors of companies.

Perhaps, instead of moaning, we should go back to the old ways, have a decent society safe to live in and be proud of and keep trendy lawyers from earning money from the Legal Services Commission.

-Chris Chase, by email