Readers' letters - April 4

The current debate about arming police as a matter of course seems to have little to do with the recent regrettable events.

A significant number of police around Parliament are armed.

Whether all should be armed is a matter for the police authorities at that location.

It is the ultimate scaremongering to use this in a national debate.

It is a long way from this incident to arming all police.

The local PCSO in our village would be totally out of place carrying a firearm.

I am, however, quite willing for the police in, say, six months time to have a debate on this issue.

If after this debate the police themselves want to carry arms, then I would be 
willing to listen – but definitely not after a number of half-baked newshounds put it forward.

We have had a number of laws passed at the whim of the press and public opinion which have been a waste of space.

Guns laws after massacres which are still a mess.

Dangerous dog legislation, mobile phone legislation, blood sports, where is the line?

I could go on!

David Collins

Address supplied

Know and show your normal

As vice chairman of Ambitious about Autism’s Youth Council, I am asking your readers to support young people with autism during this April’s World Autism Awareness Month to reclaim the word ‘normal’.

Our experience is that people tend to over use the word ‘normal’. They suggest that it’s something that young people with autism aren’t, and somehow not being ‘normal’ is wrong.

Young people with autism should be appreciated for who they are and not what others may want them to be.

Each of us has our own habits and quirks which make us who we are, to expect everyone to act the same is unhelpful.

However, we, like everyone else, can sometimes become unwell and this causes a change in our habits – a departure from our normal – which could be an indication that all is not well.

Ambitious about Autism’s Youth Council has developed a toolkit to help young people, whether they are autistic or not, to describe what their ‘normal’ looks like to others.

We hope this will help them, and those people closest to them, notice when something changes and make it easier to get help when it’s needed.

You can find the toolkit at www.knowyournormal.co.uk Please show your support during World Autism Awareness Month by tweeting your unique habits using the hashtag #knowyournormal to show what your normal is and so help us to celebrate our differences.

Jack Welch

Ambitious about Autism

Happy days are here again

Having sailed the world in the last days of Empire and witnessed the respect – and even love – of the British, I fought against entry into Europe. My shame when we turned our back on the Commonwealth was absolute.

June 23, 2016, was one of the happiest and proudest days of my life. My grandchildren will reap the rewards of bequeathing to the nations of the greatest empire the world has ever seen, three invaluable gifts: the example of a relatively bloodless withdrawal; representative democracy and the English language.

JB

via email