Metro readers discuss smacking kids, prison sex,
socialism and rat shaming

Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments.

A reader shares possible consequences for parents who smack

‘My mum hit us and died alone’
Ben is for smacking kids. My mum hit us until she drew blood or left a mark.

Once we were older, we left home. Even Dad ran away.

When she became feeble, old and grey, she had nobody to turn to. She died a miserable, sad, lonely woman. Tina, Tooting

Are parents too ‘gentle’ nowadays?

‘current parenting fashions are clearly failing’
Have those who recommend banning smacking children noticed that the inability of many children to behave in school and not follow basic rules or have any respect for authority of any kind has directly coincided with the rise of so-called gentle parenting?

I’m not advocating beating children
in any way but current parenting fashions are clearly failing in quite
an impressive way. Kay, London

Is a prison guard having sex with an inmate a victimless crime?

‘I can’t think of a more victimless crime’
The prisons are already overcrowded but female prison officer Linda De Sousa Abreu has just been sentenced to 15 months inside for being consensually intimate with an inmate (Metro, Tue).

I have been wracking my brains but I can’t think of a more victimless crime. Owen, London

What’s socialist about Rayner’s ambitions?

I am curious to know what Robert Hughes means by deputy prime minister ‘Angela Rayner’s socialist ambitions’ (MetroTalk, Tue).

In my understanding, ‘socialist’ means governing with the ambitions to serve all communities in the country. And to govern in such a way as not to skew everything towards greater profit –irrespective of the harm to people through the failure to invest in and protect basic services such as the NHS, education, water management and protecting us from the worst harms of rampant climate change.

All this the previous government has done and right-wing, climate-change deniers and libertarian capitalists would do if they were in power. Laura Jones, Cheshire

Too many unaffordable developments not enough terraced housing

‘Once we lose woodlands and greenspaces – they are lost forever’
Robert Duncan Martin (MetroTalk, Mon) is absolutely spot on regarding 
the latest, ill-considered plans to solve the housing crisis by having 
developers build estates of large, unaffordable properties.

Their number and size take up too much land. They are built for families when more forward-thinking is needed to suit a rising population and the modern world. The number of single people living alone is increasing also.

Terraced housing, as Robert advocates, is a far better alternative and we must remember that once woodlands and green spaces are built on and wildlife destroyed, it is all lost permanently. Imogen, South-East London

‘Plague rats’ have a bad rep

‘Don’t blame the plague on rats’
Regarding your report on British Covid scientists working on a cure for the plague (Metro, Mon).

It states that rats spread the plague. This has been refuted by scientists who say the plague was more likely spread by human body lice – people were living
in cramped, overcrowded conditions. Don’t blame the plague on rats. Mollie, South Birmingham