GIVEN his concession that a genuine injustice may, indeed, lie behind the headline-grabbing protests staged by Fathers 4 Justice, it is a shame that Julian Cole couldn't lift his comments beyond the level of cheap jibes and the recycling of tabloid gossip ("Batman gets a bad press", September 16).

Had he troubled to inform himself a little further about the issues he would have gained at least a basic understanding of the breadth and depth of the devastation wrought by the family courts in this country; not only on the tens of thousands of children, parents and grandparents whose lives are blighted annually, but on our society as a whole.

Children who grow up without their fathers are more likely to have problems in school and underachieve educationally; to become pregnant as teenagers; to engage in alchohol or substance abuse; to offend; and to suffer long-term mental health and emotional problems.

For 30 years fathers' groups have been lobbying patiently for change, and have largely been ignored. At long last fathers and their families are standing up and holding the Government and the family courts to account.

The campaign conducted by Fathers 4 Justice has put these issues on the top of the media agenda and elicited the widespread acknowledgement that the current system is failing families and failing children, badly.

Graeme Cook,

F4J Wales Co-ordinator (and Ellen's daddy),

Clifton Hill,

Bristol.

Updated: 15:07 Friday, October 22, 2004