I WRITE in response to all the bleeding heart do-gooders who perpetually wibble on about how we should 'invest in the youth of today...blah, blah'.

Has everyone gone soft? If you deduct the youth element from national crime statistics it would make a huge dent in the figures in everything from vandalism to theft and from public nuisance to crimes of violence.

It's precisely because of the 'spare the rod' attitude that we have plummeted - in the last 20 years - to the depths that we have, where kids have no respect for anyone or anything, including themselves.

Their impunity to prosecution and the lightness of the sentences they do get when they are caught is a joke and has bred an arrogance that makes my stomach churn. Is it only me who can see that they are laughing at the law?

At the risk of being berated for my old fashioned attitude (I'm in my early forties incidentally), the vast majority of my peers at school behaved, had respect for teachers and got on with our studies. Why? Because none of us wanted to get the cane for transgressing.

Furthermore, we didn't need special societies, organisations and wet liberal adults to look out for us, we went out and had fun - and not at the expense of others and their property.

I agree there should be investment in the youth of today but it should be investment in creating more effective punitive measures to stem the tide of the yob youth culture. We hear about the youth of today being the leaders of tomorrow, well, stop for a moment and just think about it.

If you have any argument about what I'm saying, just read this and other papers to see what the little darlings are up to when they're out 'playing'.

To the wet bleeding heart liberals, I say get a life and do something useful for a change.

Non Christian, Non Parent, Non Liberal.