Readers' letters from Friday 2 May 2008

Crime doesn't pay in videogame

IN your April 30 edition there was a report about somebody being mugged for a copy of the videogame Grand Theft Auto and it was stated that in the game you earn points for doing drug deals, stealing cars and shooting policemen. No wonder the game is so controversial! However, there is a problem...The report is wrong on several counts. This is a modern, freeform style of game which doesn't involve the allocation of points at all. A minor quibble maybe, but the foundation upon which the other more extreme claims are built.Granted, crime does take place in the game, but within the framework of a sharp satire on the American Dream as you play an immigrant to the country struggling for a better way of life, but condemned to the slums and doing whatever you can to survive.It is not the point of the game to commit any of the crimes mentioned in the report and in fact there are gameplay penalties for doing so as Liberty City (based on New York) is heavily policed. Do any of those things and you will end up fined (money in the game being the nearest thing to a point system in the traditional sense) or even shot dead.If I were to apply the same logic used in your report, I could criticise football or Formula One as sports where you win by kicking your opponents or ramming other drivers off the track.It seems to me that there was a suggestion in the report that there was a relationship between the subject matter of the game and the violence of the attack, which can only serve to strengthen the ill-informed knee-jerk reactions that games are getting right now. As one of the millions of mature, well-adjusted game-players all over the world who constantly have to defend and justify our hobby, and have no impulse whatsoever to go out and commit crime (violent or otherwise), I suggest that if there is a relationship, it is not that violent games make violent people, but that violent people are attracted to violent media, whether it be games, films or whatever.

Barry Metcalfe, Wilmslow

Serious problem with illegal taxi drivers

I  READ with interest the reply from the city council's Fiona Sharkey about enforcing taxi regulations, and while I may agree in principal when Fiona states they have the enforcement officers out at weekends, I have yet to see taxi enforcement officers where I work in the city centre during the night.Could it be that they have only two officers on the night shift to cover the whole of the city centre, including all licensed premises? It is clear that we do have serious problems in the city with illegal taxi drivers operating. This problem has been reported numerous times by Manchester Pub & Club Network, hotels and hackney hire drivers, yet the council fail to take the complaints seriously. It is only when somebody is attacked or raped by one of these drivers that we see the police and the council take action by trying to crack down on illegal taxi drivers, maybe for a week or two, to try to reassure visitors to the city centre. I personally know of two private hire firms who break the city council code of conduct for taxi drivers every day without being challenged.I have even watched parking attendants walk past illegally parked taxis without issuing them with tickets. Finally, how can you expect the drivers to understand the rules and regulations set out by the council when they cannot even understand or speak basic English? They only seem to understand you when they are discussing the fare with you before attempting to rip you off.

Phil Burke, Manchester

Bus pass woe

I HAVE read your recent correspondence about national bus passes with interest and would like to let you know about my experience. My mum and dad are 83 and 85 respectively and as they had not received their application forms by January I contacted GMPTE who assured me they would arrive shortly. They had still not arrived by the beginning of February (incidentally they never did arrive) so I called into the travel shop at the Arndale bus station and was handed a couple of application forms. I noticed that they requested proof of ID and address and asked if this was really necessary as they already had local passes so their details were already known.A very helpful gentleman said it was not necessary to attach any proof of ID or address as long as the number of the existing GMPTE pass was shown on the front of the application form. This was done and the forms were sent off. On April 26 – 10 weeks after the forms were sent in – they were returned with a sheet requesting suitable ID and address proof. I find this incredibly frustrating. My mother in law plus two neighbours were lucky enough to receive forms and only had to return them signed with a suitable photograph. No ID or address proof was necessary. They have all now received the new passes. What is going on? I did exactly what GMPTE told me to do so why did it take 10 weeks to return the forms? My mum has booked a week's holiday in Blackpool for the beginning of June. Will she get her pass by then?

John Fearon, Bury

Cushy jails? They're disgusting!

YOUR April 25 report on levels of prison overcrowding coincides with the jail population reaching an all-time high of 82,319 in England and Wales. Shadow minister for justice Edward Garnier is right to highlight worrying levels of violence, self-harm, and self-inflicted deaths in overcrowded jails, while Edward Garnier QC, a barrister and judge, has said it is not surprising that the reoffending rate is so high when people are put into adverse conditions.He added: “I don't sentence people to live in public lavatories in inhumane and disgusting conditions but to lose their liberty for a finite period.” Mr Garnier has a more realistic view of prison life than Glyn Travis, from the Prison Officers' Association, who seems to think that prison life is 'cushy'.The association should guard against cultivating inaccurate perceptions that fly in the face of the facts.

Pauline Campbell, Malpas

Facelifts in Newton Heath

REGARDING the letter about the facelift programme in Newton Heath, I am pleased your correspondent has noticed we have made significant improvements to the area, but note his concerns about us being selective with the roads chosen for this work. The main objective of the facelift programme is to enhance the whole area and raise the market value of all properties. To achieve this, and with limited budgets, the focus is to invest in key routes.This strategy is a tried and tested method of creating a buoyant housing market in areas that have suffered from urban decline. We appreciate that people on streets not selected for facelift treatment may feel 'left out' but I hope they understand that by concentrating our efforts on carefully chosen roads, everyone in the area will benefit.

Eddie Smith, chief executive, New East Manchester