After the Turpin case, more needs to be done to protect children

The horrific story of the US couple who are alleged to have chained up and abused their 13 children raises so many questions.

A simple, initial question is the number of children in a world already facing overpopulation in so many countries, although this is their own choice. I am not sure what the reaction would be if they travelled to China with its historical one-child approach.

A more serious question is the right to privacy, as a visit to the doctor would have shown concerns relating to their physical development. Children, and adult children, have a right to good health. Perhaps a free medical check-up should be compulsory for all children at least once a year.

The alleged imprisonment is not a topic for questions or doubt, as any such action is simply wrong and should be a matter for the legal system.

A more complex question is that of home schooling, an approach that is advocated and practised by many – and often successfully – although teaching should reflect the curriculum as the children will eventually have to make their own way in the world.

There are a number of further questions that will be put to the parents, and most of them will be by child welfare agencies and the legal system.

Let us pray that the children are OK and able to lead normal lives eventually.

Dennis Fitzgerald
Melbourne, Australia

It’s the Parole Board’s secrecy which undermines the public’s trust – such privacy offends the deeply ingrained principle of our law, that justice must be done in public. There’s a powerful argument that a body that makes decisions about the public safety of releasing the likes of John Worboys should be subject to informed public scrutiny.

In fact remission, given for good behaviour, should not be generally available: good behaviour should be presumed and bad dealt with by an extension of sentence. Parole would then become redundant and the Parole Board abolished – an unqualified good, to my mind, since it’s usually the least sensible of my acquaintances who sit on them.

Rev Dr John Cameron
St Andrews

The latest news from the damp spaghetti of Labour Party nonsense tells us many things.

From the appointment of off-the-peg white bloke Richard Leonard (who entertained us all by claiming to represent “real change”) as Scottish Labour Leader, to the appointment of Corbyn ally Christine Shawcroft to Labour’s important disciplinary – we see Corbynite/Labour self-focus on a scale we’ve not experienced since militant tendency. The only difference being you’d be hard pushed to find anyone with a personality this time round.

But the main message seems to be that when the going gets tough – when global problems are pressing down on Britain with a weight we’ve not experienced in many decades – when foreseeable crises have broken wide open and, for example, the NHS is suffering the multiple stab wounds of Brexit, underfunding and the cancer of PFI (introduced by Labour), the one thing Labour can be relied on to do is infighting.

Go Jeremy.

Amanda Baker
Edinburgh

Ben Bradley tries to excuse his former, frankly awful, comments about the unemployed by saying he’s now matured. While that’s clearly a good thing, let’s not forget this means he held his reprehensible views at the age of 23. And this is who Theresa May picked to help the Tories appeal to young people. Speaks volumes about Theresa May’s people skills!

Steve Mumby
Bournemouth

A domestic worker died because she was too frightened to access healthcare over immigration fears.

The concern around government requests to NHS digital for data on immigrants is indicative of a wider problem in healthcare. The expectation on health professionals and bodies to report on patients is increasing and there is a real risk that this will put those who are vulnerable off approaching a medical expert for confidential advice or treatment when they need it most.

Doctors and hospital clinicians are already under a professional obligation to take action to protect the interests of vulnerable patients, but to balance this against the interest of the wider public – notifying authorities of suspected infectious diseases for example. But pressure to divulge information on immigrants who have been treated differs from this public health need and is of concern to the Medical Protection Society, and others.

Clearly a balance must be struck and the wider, potentially serious, implications of sharing confidential patient data must be considered.

Dr Pallavi Bradshaw – senior medicolegal adviser, Medical Protection Society

As the author of the historical novel 1066 The Conquest which describes the life of the Duke of Normandy leading up to the Battle of Hastings based on the events depicted in this unique work of art, I am not sure that moving it is a good idea.

I am already dubious over the business of temporary exhibitions which require transporting major works of art around the planet with all the risks it brings. The size and delicate fabric make packaging and transporting the tapestry extremely difficult. Bayeux is not far, and easy to reach, so why move it across the channel? Leave it where it is in its natural surroundings.

Peter Fieldman
Madrid, Spain