SIR - What a splendid letter from Chief Superintendent Rod Reynolds (Letters, April 7) - a man who has something to say that is worth saying and, moreover, says it with authority and precision.

This is in pleasant contrast to the burblings of small men who sell their trivial back-biting on a regular basis.

I hope it is the pendulum beginning to swing away from the permissive 1960s, when the undermining of doctors, judges, policemen, teachers and clergymen began.

This was done by people whose main interests lay in selling more newsprint; hence today's celebrity culture and forgotten principles.

Could this have had any bearing on the latest gaffe by the Ministry of Defence over the release of the 15 Iran captives?

JOHN CRAWFORD, Worcester.