I MUST put the record straight about my so-called 'nasty slur' on today's youth (Letters, October 14).

Firstly, if Mrs. Barker is a regular Press reader she will see from my previous letters about youth crime that I did say "I do not tar all youngsters with the same brush."

I too have three grown-up sons, none of whom have ever been in trouble and all of whom have got very good jobs. My age? I was born in 1950, in one of the toughest, most deprived areas of Liverpool.

Certainly we got up to school-boyish pranks, but nothing on the level of today. why? Because there was discipline, on the streets, in the home and at school. We never terrorised the elderly, blew up phone boxes, or frightened people so much they feared going out at night.

There are a lot of decent law-abiding youngsters, but just read the Press on a regular basis, watch TV, and see what is inflicted on society.

My remarks were not an insult to decent youths or their parents. But if it touched a nerve, good, perhaps people will take notice of what's happening around them instead of pretending it doesn't exist!

Colin Henson,

Moorcroft Road,

Woodthorpe, York.

Updated: 11:21 Saturday, October 18, 2003