• BEFORE I make my point in this letter, can I first stress that all of my thoughts are first with those who have suffered or died pointlessly since the beginning of recorded time – as well as all of their relatives and loved ones?

Now, to the point: a massive amount of time is now being taken up by speakers in debates/ interviews prefacing everything with an assertion that they are not psychos who feel no empathy towards those to whom great misfortune or injustice has befallen.

These assertions become ever less meaningful with each one that is uttered. The sheer repetition renders them down to mere blah blahs.

Can we please take a lead from the aspirations of our legal system and adopt a policy of innocent until proved guilty? The persistent assumption that people are all horrible and malign has poisoned too much of our public lives (significantly our welfare system). Enough already!

EF WILSON, NW1