IT will come as no surprise to most people that a recent published report confirmed that crime is on the increase and, furthermore, that Greater Manchester Police is one of the worst performing police services in England and Wales.

Such detailed accounts, along with others, prove it is now blindingly obvious that this country is in the grip of a downward spiral of lawlessness, resulting in a surge in gangs and teenage yobs getting away with terrorising decent honest people and making their lives a misery.

Why do people have to suffer so-called "boy racers" speeding around late a night? Why do mindless vandals frequently ruin our beautiful parks and public buildings? How often do we greet a new day with bus shelters smashed to smithereens?

Then there are the mounting problems of adolescents zonked-out on drink and drugs. Why should the public have to put up with such behaviour?

The country is now dominated by the liberal-thinking agenda which gives every pampered offender the protection of "human rights" as they go around destroying others. For every court ruling delivered on a yob, you can bet there is a lawyer trying to protect him or her from such harsh treatment.

For every zero-tolerance initiative there is a useless government "advisor" suggesting that tax-payers should pay to help wayward children become better citizens. And there always seems to be some feeble excuse or other in an attempt to defend their illicit actions, rather than admitting that most of them are just downright bad.

Youth Offending Teams, funded by the council tax-payer, are woefully inadequate at trying to tackle the problems of youths causing annoyance, leading to a plague of anti-social behaviour. Such malfunction should be the subject of intense scrutiny by those councillors elected to carry out such duty.

Punishment is now an evil word, and that is why the deterrent discipline that used to be dished out by parents, schools and even the police has sadly vanished. The way young offenders are treated these days does not provide any deterrent whatsoever: and that's the problem!

Some people are literally living in fear, prisoners in their own homes. It is time to give up the "softly, softly" approach. What is required is firm action to reinstate discipline and to bring law and order back to our streets.

JEAN ALLISON (Mrs),

Ramsbottom.