Yes, the same old story: it's all the fault of those terrible fathers who somehow force women to have children (despite having absolutely no reproductive rights whatsoever) and then walk out on them because they are just bad, bad people.

No mention of men tricked or duped into becoming dads against their will; no mention of men who don't even know they are fathers; and no mention of men driven out of their children's lives by vindictive women and biased family courts.

Once a woman gets access to a man's sperm, regardless of how she does it, she is then totally in control of whether she wants to have a baby or not, and whether the man whose sperm she has taken gets to be a dad or not. HER choice, 100%; not his. So how about holding those accountable who actually have the means to ensure whether their children have a father or not - i.e. women? Or are we so drugged with the notion that the female of the species can never do any wrong, that we refuse to see the truth?

paul parmenter, Norfolk, UK

" Mr Cameron and Mr Straw might both have been vague but by speaking out they encourage others to talk about these issues."

Oh, really? How very odd that even The Times seems not to have noticed that millions of people HAVE been discussing this very issue for decades.

They have demanded, they have begged, they have pleaded for governments to damned well stop yakking about the problem, and get up and so something about it : all to no avail.

And, once more the whole problem can safely be laid at the door of rogue fathers, who shuck off responsibility to their sons. As if there are no women in Britain who deliberately, and persistently deny their estranged husbands any influence whatever over their sons, upbringing.

A woman can consistently flout court orders to permit the father access to his children with absolute impunity, while the father is stigmatised, both legally and financially as an " absent father" What pray, do Messrs Straw and Cameron propose to do about this?

Terry Flower, Periana, Spain

What nonsense is written about absent fathers. Each government coming to power moans and wrings its hands over the latest reported behaviour of a few warped teenagers, despite consistently undermining the role of fathers. Until three years ago, fathers of children born outside of marriage did not get parental responsibility automatically and had no right to say anything about a child's life. Women could easily throw them aside, then demand that the CSA thugs chase them for child support payments, while claiming tens of thousands of pounds in housing benefits. Family Courts sit in secrecy and compel many fathers to see their children for a few hours a month, if at all, and in many cases even that brief contact is begrudged by the women. Many fathers eventually lose all contact with their children after years of frustration and disappointment, hounded for money by the CSA and mistrustful of all women. Have people forgotten the Father 4 Justice protests so quickly?

Jyotin, George town, Cayman Islands

"Fathers who run away from their responsibilities"?

Yet more of the demonisation and denigration of men that we have come to expect from politicians pandering to a politically correct agenda, and the media promoting a man-hating feminist ideology.

There may be enclaves within society where a matriarchy has been established for some time - but is that necessarily the fault of the men? Are they "absent", or have they been excluded?

Meanwhile, in mainstream society, feminism is assiduously seeking the same outcome - the marginalisation of men in general and fathers in particular. Many influences are being brought to bear by cultural commissars of the feminist Gulag, but all you need to do is look at the way in which men are shafted by the divorce industry and the secret Family Courts.

Fathers are not running away, they are being excluded by feminist ideology. It is as simple as that.

Chris, Wokingham, Berkshire

For decades we have been told that men are not needed , that it is better to have no father than a bad father (the unspoken completion of the statement being that all men are bad), that all men are rapists etc. It is disappointing now to learn that men are guilty here too.

Women and the State must make up their minds, either men/ fathers are worthwhile or not. If we are then we need a better deal in family law. If not then Mr. Cameron's views are wrong and we should not be attacked here too.

I am confident that women can raise boys to be decent. After all we know that women are faultless and wonderful.

David Morrison, Airdrie, UK