The prison population increased more in the last decade than it did in the first four decades after the Second World War.

We cannot build prisons quickly enough.

All of this has happened against a largely falling pattern of crime year on year.

The exception to this has been violent crime, which has risen. This should, therefore, account for the rise in the prison population.

Wrong again. The majority of our prisons are filled with non-violent criminals serving sentences of six months or less.

Despite the increase in community-based options, our prisons are flooded with short-term prisoners.

They say you should often tackle the source of the problem so who is responsible for this practice?

You need look no further than the sheriff courts who deal with the vast majority of cases.

The police have to be accountable, so why don’t we have open and transparent information regarding sentencing practices in our courts?

Independence and accountability don’t have to be mutually exclusive. — Justice Jimmy.

Here in Tayside, the local school meals contractor is doing its best to provide wholesome food (so my wife, who works in a school kitchen, tells me).

Sadly, youngsters still want “burger and chips” and, if a pupil cannot get what he or she wants at school, the young consumer (usually of junk food) will just go elsewhere.

This was brought home to me recently while passing my local chippie. The was a sign in the window (pictured above) which said it all.

Until there is some way of educating either youngsters or their parents, healthy eating will just be pie in the sky. — Crumbs.

At 10.30 one morning, I tried to cross that road at the traffic lights. The green light came on, but I still couldn’t cross because there were three buses coming from the bottom end and two from the top.

The bus couldn’t turn the corner because the other bus was too far out as vans were making deliveries. To top it all, a Travel Dundee pick-up lorry was sitting outside its shop.

It was not safe for any pedestrian. Why can’t those responsible not move the bus stop round the corner where the bank is? It certainly would be safer and less congested.

Hopefully something will be done to make this street safer before someone gets killed. — Margaret MacDonald, Broughty Ferry, Dundee.

I WRITE to complain about the buses that travel back and forward to and from Commercial Street in Dundee. This is an accident waiting to happen.

I was in the City Centre over the school holidays with my sons aged five and nine. It took us some time to cross as there were buses going in both directions at quite some speed.

You can only cross at the Murraygate as there is no pavement between there and the Clydesdale Bank.

The council has spent a lot of money to make the City Centre a no-go zone for cars and motorbikes. Buses, which are extremely pollutant, should also be kept away from pedestrianised areas. — Concerned Mum, Dundee.

I WRITE to complain about the traffic in Commercial Street, Dundee. I was with my three-year-old grandson and trying to get across that road in one piece was a nightmare.

Twice we were nearly involved in an accident with a bus. The number of buses going up and down that street is ridiculous.

I don’t usually complain, but feel this road is too dangerous. Someone is going to be seriously hurt. — K. Gallacher, Dundee.

Surely the lack of opportunity to celebrate the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus is a more important issue about which to protest.

My son did not attend school on these Christian festivals, nor should any other children whose parents believe in God. — Douglas Reader.

Casanova’s Big Night (1962) starred the late Bob Hope as a lovelorn heartthrob in this comedy film outing.

Do you remember the song he sang on his gondola? It went, “Tick-a-tick-a, tick-a-tick-a, tick-a-tick-a-tick, I love you”.

Or you may recall where you saw it.

It was one of the gems on the much-missed Forest Park Road Cinema in Dundee. — J. I. Matthew.