Letter: In Brief

Sir: If, as Dr John Nicholson claims (letter, 27 January), all that matters in the age of consent debate is that the age should be equal for all, why are supporters of the Government's Bill invariably hostile to any suggestion of equalisation upwards at 18 or even at 17 as in Northern Ireland?

The main reason for the 70 per cent public opposition to the Bill is not anti-gay prejudice, but the perfectly reasonable view that 16-year- olds, whether boys or girls, are simply not mature enough to give proper consent to a sexual relationship.

ALAN PAVELIN

Chislehurst, Kent