When an item is negligently lost on the street it becomes free game, the property of anyone who luckily picks it up. Which is why stealing and finding something are so not the same.

Our society rewards people for being careless and penalises people for being lucky. It's the mad-drunk old gent who loses his betshop winnings while making his way back to the pub who gets bailed out, while the unemployed family man behind on his rent who finds the cash and gladly pockets it gets prosecuted.

But then we live in crazy times, and if we didn't we'd all be living by the principle: "Negligent people deserve the things that happen to them due to their own negligence."

I stand by my previous comments regarding the so-called "theft" of lost property, despite the flippant comments of Messrs Marsh and Roe (Put up, shut up, Letters, October 10), who obviously really have it in for me.

Both writers should forget about the little person-in-the-street who gets lucky and finds something of value, and instead turn their critical spotlight on the very real thieving that's committed by those on the London Stock Exchange and in the corridors of power.

My guess, though, is that they don't have the moral fibre.

Aled Jones, Mount Crescent, Bridlington, East Yorkshire.