Letter: Crime in Cambridge

Sir: Finbar MacMahon's article on the recent upsurge in violence in Cambridge (22 April) came as no news to me. Only two days before, a few hours after arriving in that seat of higher learning, I suffered an attack by a group of young men on one of town's main thoroughfares. It was barely dark outside. In front of a bookshop that I had frequented as student, I pleaded with the perpetrators to desist from shoving my head through the shop's plate glass window.

The irony is that I have recently moved to Glasgow, reputedly the most dangerous city in Great Britain. In a big city, one can expect big city problems. But now, even the banks of the Cam are not immune to the scourge that has beset Britain. It is only fitting that the ivory tower world which has been so long secluded from the real world should have the real world thrust upon its learned streets. The Cambridge police had better recognise that their lanes are filled with more than academic battles.

Yours faithfully,

JAMES M. COOPER

The Law School

University of Strathclyde

Glasgow