What sort of society are we turning into?

Our towns seem plagued with foul-mouthed, Neanderthal gangs of teenage yobs, including girls, and, yes, many wearing hooded tops and baseball caps.

Some blame the permissive Sixties, others Thatcherism, Blairism and hip-hop culture.

Whatever is to blame, there is a need to put our society back on track to a better level of decency, morality and respect.

We as a society seem to be going backwards not forwards.

When the film A Clockwork Orange came out in 1972, people said things would never get so bad but it has been like A Clockwork Orange for years now.

Have we not learnt anything since the horrible murder of James Bulger? We need to quickly sort out what is wrong with our society.

When I was young and at school, we had the cane and the slipper. I admit I got whacked and my pride got hurt but I grew up to become a good, law-abiding citizen, who respected the police. I understood what they said was the law and if you broke it, you got punished.

ASBOs are a political gimmick and many yobs see getting one as a badge of honour.

Prisons should be places of fear and non-stop hard work in a rock quarry and prisoners should be chained together and wear old-style, striped uniforms.

Radio and TV should be banned in prisons, as should football, and prison food should be basic rations.

Begging should be completely banned as most beggers are drug addicts wanting money for a fix.

The death penalty and the birch should also be brought back. We have DNA testing now so the risk of hanging an innocent person would be minimal.

TV today is full of people on the make, doing immoral things and criminals are seen as heroes by some programme-makers - a good example were the Krays, who weren't a pair of Robin Hoods.

And the evil of drug use is promoted by misguided idiots such as Peter Doherty and the Gallagher brothers of Oasis.

I am not a forthright reactionary just an ordinary working-class guy worried about where or society is heading. You are either for the yobs or against them.

-David Broughton, St Leonards On Sea