The death penalty was abolished 50 years ago this week on 9 November 1965. The murder of Becky Watts was a distressing and disturbing event (Report,12 November), but it is not a reason to bring back hanging. As Roy Jenkins, and central to the campaign for abolition,would no doubt maintain famous, not taking a life for a life is one marker of a civilised society and that remains the case five decades on.
Keith Flett
London• Helmut Schmidt (Obituary, and 11 November) shares with Mr Gladstone the distinction of having given his name to an everyday object. The German sea-captain’s cap which he usually wore,once known as a Prinz-Heinrich-Mütze (after the younger brother of Kaiser Wilhelm II), is now commonly referred to in Germany as a Schmidt-Mütze.
David McAvoy
WiganContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com