Recently I blogged on a local newspaper site, that I and my family thought that the police were less than hopeless- one might have thought there would be a torrent of blogs from serving officers defending themselves. Well I was surprised - the blogs claiming to be from older policemen and they did go into detail about recruiting, today. Most said they were as appalled as the public. Entry exam standards for the police had been reduced over recent years, Several officers stated there is that "do you know who I am attitude" - one actually said that some of the younger element consider the public are the "enemy" ! Some appear to be looking forward to retirement as it is not the police force they joined, I would rather they stayed in post and tried for change.

Henry, Winchester, UK

One of the many problems facing those who might be responsible for providing care for people with severe learning difficulties is obtaining informed consent for any treatment. The law has always been sticky in this area, and as time has gone by, the problem has become more acute. After the age of 18, no person can give or withold consent but the individual concerned, unless a court order is obtained - a time consuming, expensive business. If an individual is incapable of making a decision based upon the risks and benefits of treatment, how likely is it that they will fully comprehend the consequences of their actions? Mens rea must always be used as the determinant in cases such as the one which has been in the news recently. Having worked with people with Down's syndrome, I know that not all of them are gentle and compliant, but this does not mean that they are aware, at an adult level, of the effects their behaviour has on others around them.
Common sense- not common at all

Bill Q, Derby,

The requirement for a 'guilty mind' is not always necessary. A great raft of minor offences are committed just by the act, with no need for mens rea, mostly for practical reasons. The biggest exception is rape however, which you can be guilty of without any intention to commit the act.

Ed, London,

I write to endorse the opinion of Jack, London expressed above. The sooner the public realise that wrong-headed, borderline wicked decisions taken by Labour over the past 10 years were not as a result of incompetence, ineptitude or naive idealism, but rather deliberate policy to further a political philosophy. Labour's intent is to destroy Britain at several levels, not least the cultural level. Grasp this and everything fall into place. When the economy crashes and those with a grievance find common cause, then all bets are off. There will be a reckoning and when it happens a lot of people now in positions of authority will be marked for destruction.

Andrew Milner, Karuizawa, Japan

The current crop of New Labour politicians are the leftie students of the late 60s and 70's. They are now taking their opportunity to rid themselves of their middle class imperial guilty, at everyone else's expense. Some how we are all responsible for the 400 years of Empire and now we must be "equalized" to say sorry.
After 12 years of social engineering, public servants are now being told not just what to do and say but what to think.
These are very scary times. I have first hand experience of malicious prosecutions for the benefit of political expedience, because someone perceived that there could be a 'racial' element involved. So persuasive is the anti-racist, equality driven culture within the police service that I have seen officers purjury themselves in court and persue clearly malicious prosecutions because they thought it would further their career.

steve, abergavenny, wales

People with LD's,a long-term psychiatric condition (which may have no symptoms),or a mental handicap are certainly not equal as far as New Labour are concerned. NHS doctors under orders of the government have been discriminating against these groups from having operations, or medical treatments for which there is a clear clinical need,since 2000. All my efforts to get equal treatment have failed,including appeals to major public figures to intervene. Numerous GP's will not even acknowledge the issue,and give these patients minimal clinical information so as not ot compromise themselves. The PCT's are a scandal only protecting the doctors. Will someone from the EU please stop this UK eugenics?

R Daggett, Gateshead, England

Unfortunately, stories such as this are now all too common in 21st century Scotland. A couple of years ago the Scottish Crime Recording Standards were introduced whereby if there was sufficient evidence to suggest that a crime had been committed then a report must be raised and fully investigated. It was also reported that the parents of the victim insisted that he was charged. Had the officer(s) involved not reported him then they could well have found themselves open to disciplinary charges. They would have been duty bound to report it to the Fiscal. The Fiscal is the only one who has any power to use their discretion when deciding what course of action would be appropriate. This is the reality of the Scottish police where they have virtually no discretion. A complete waste of the public's time and money on this occassion.

Stewart Smith, Edinburgh, Scotland

Why do we always blame the police? The police are not responsible for idiotic laws. Individual officers have no discretion any more. If they did, does anybody really believe we would waste resources on prosecuting minor domestic squabbles that people should be sorting out themselves.

The only answer to this is to be do away with all the race hate nonsense and have one law that protects everybody.

jo, london, uk

Thank you Minette for applying common sense to the matter. People with learning disability may or may not know of their disability. If they have the insight and commit an anti-social offence a few words of caution may not go amiss. If not, as is patently the case here, involvement by the police is not relevant. It may be time for the legal system to consider ways of determining the right course of action in these rare and specific cases. Understanding learning disability and medical conditions such as epilepsy which is often diagnosed in people with learning disability, is very important. Police and other services are obliged to learn about such issues in line with Valuing People Now.

R Thorn , Kent,

Yes Jack. The misguided and obsessive drive towards 'equality' used to go under the spurious term 'positive discrimination', whether on the grounds of gender, race or sexuality (and what has that got to do with anybody really?). A particularly offensive attempt at social engineering, which still persists on public sector worker training courses and Socialist Think Tanks (ugh!). It's not just confined to the dimwitted Marxist government either. I recently wrote to David Cameron to point out that I, as a woman, found women only Tory shortlists insulting and that such misguided and patronising strategies have been ultimately responsible for the lamentable mediocrity of the present shower of female politicians, which in itself undermines women's credibility in the world of real work because of the cringingly embarrassing incompetence which they all - without exception- display. I have grave doubts that a genuine meritocracy will ever re-emerge from the PC claptrap. Utterly depressing.

Julie, Frankfurt,

I'm afraid Scottish police seem to take perverse delight in turning minor incidents into very serious crimes. They regularly turn trivial matters into career wrecking malicious prosecutions.

Sadly for you Scots although your criminal law is arguably better than England's, it is administered by police and Fiscal's who lack any competence in making valued judgements. English police officers are regularly reminded about their "discretion" and the human rights act requires that all actions are Proportionate and Necessary. This is part of the basis of making prosecution decisions. I see nothing in this case that was proportionate or necessary, so it is likely a fair minded and competent English officer would have dropped the case with appropriate words of advice. Sadly the Scottish papers are full of Scottish officers utterly unable to understand and apply the Human Rights Act, and Fiscal's who clearly no understanding of criminal or human rights legislation.

Tony, London,

In the first place the police constable who attended the scene should have calmed the complainant, given advice and made an entry in his notebook. That he chose to instigate a prosecution reflects on the prevailing politically correct dogma under which police constables are terrified to use common sense. Secondly the constable presumably had a supervising sergeant who himself should have nipped this nonsense in the bud. Even then the prosecution file would have been inspected and approved by a more senior officer who should have made a decision to put a halt to this farce. As for the Crown Prosecution Service, they are beyond parody and I make no comment about those worthies. What I wonder would have been the response from the police if the roles had been reversed and the 'offender' had been an Asian with Down's Syndrome. Exactly, advice given and an entry in the police constable's notebook.

Callan, Liverpool, England

Jack of London, its not Marxism but good honest socialism.
The very essence of Labour Nu or Old is central control.
For the years before Maggie (including closet socilaist Heath)they made a complete b..lls of the economy so now they have gone for "people control" instead.
Socialism is wonderful, always provided you are one of the "ruling elite" a la East Europe and the Soviets of unmissed
decades.
What do you think the EU is all about ?

Peter Bolt, Redditch, UK

Th Hamilton Procurator Fiscal obviously has much more severe Learning Difficulties than the boy.

eric campbell, harrogate, uk

Last week she admitted being wrong all through her history, but suggested with the same authroity that while she'd never been right before, she somehow was now.

This week she suggests that equality rules sometimes shouldn't be rigourously applied. This is of course because she thinks equality laws are for equality. I wish she'd adapt a scientific style of analysis, because I like her style of writing.

The equality laws are there to protect the weak and the ostracised. Women, Blacks, the Handicapped and the Gays. If they weren't weak then we wouldn't need a law whose net effect is to support them.

And as for her, and other people's obsession with training. Training only applies to methodical tasks. Minette is criticising the police for obeying the law, when she doesn't understand the point of it.

I expect she doesn't see Big Brother as merely the modern day equivalent of watching the inmates of Bedlam, sexually assault each other while you poke them with sticks either.

Charles, London,

This particular case sounds like playing the sympathy card against the race card.

Howard, Manchester,

No, no, no! The Marxist ideology that presently governs us is NOT concerned with equality. It can hardly come out and admit its real aims, so it pretends it's pursuing equality when, as the persecution of the boy with Down's syndrome demonstrates, it's really trying to elevate non-whites over whites, women over men and homosexuals over heterosexuals. When the old order is smashed, it will then be able to take over. "All groups are equal, but some are more equal than others." Orwell's novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four are very good guides to the psychology at work.

Jack, London,