Spectator letters: Bereaved parents against press regulation, and a defence of Tony Benn

Why we need a free press

Sir: As bereaved parents and (to borrow from some signatories of last week’s advertisement) victims of public authority abuse we wholly oppose adoption of the politically endorsed Royal Charter of Press Regulation. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Christopher, our mentally ill son, had been denied his right to life as a result of failures by the prison service, the police and the NHS. Our experience was that, in the aftermath of our son’s death, the primary objective of the public authorities involved was to protect themselves from criticism because of those failures rather than to achieve justice for our son. If it had not been for press support, we question whether we would have achieved the accountability by the agencies involved that was reflected ultimately in the ECHR judgment. We are in no doubt that a politically endorsed system of press regulation would lead eventually to pressure on the press to avoid embarrassment to ministers. Would future failures by public agencies such as those revealed in the Stephen Lawrence case or various recent NHS scandals be revealed under a Royal Charter regulatory regime? We believe they would not, and the risk involved is too great to accept.
Audrey and Paul Edwards
Reigate, Surrey

Middle-class snobs

Sir: I’m inclined to agree with Cosmo Landesman that working-class grandparents are usually an excellent influence on a child (‘The wrong kind of granny’, 22 March). My own instilled in me unfashionable notions of hard work, thrift, charity and stoicism — virtues that are sadly lacking in the middle-class young of my acquaintance. What nearly caused me to spit out my Friday gin and tonic (fancy — working-class person who doesn’t drink beer!) was Landesman’s snobbish assertion that working-class grandparents have bad diets, no cultural appreciation, and lack any desire to improve their lives.

Most working-class grandparents (or elderly people in general) are unable to engage with new hobbies like exotic travel because they lack the financial ability to do so, not because they do not want to.