Letter: The best way to handle a wife-beater

Sir: Who says athletes or any other public figures are, or should be, role models? Youths may want to play like Gazza, but how many really want to be like him in every respect?

Talk of role models encourages the adoration of celebrities, which is dangerous, as Jesse Jackson frequently points out to black ghetto children in America, where sports, especially, are seen as a way to escape poverty. Only a pitiful handful succeed.

A loving parent, a dedicated teacher or an interested neighbour are better role models than all the heroes and heroines who ever lived.

RONALD ODGERS

Carleton, North Yorkshire