Letter: We need a moral lead

The search for consensus on a moral framework will continue to be stifled if contributors show the obtuseness of Decca Aitkenhead ("Help! There's a politician in my bed", 3 November).

People do not make life decisions with politicians in mind, but it is equally clear that social trends are influenced both by the example of public figures and by changes in legislation. Government should promote and support lifestyles and institutions that are beneficial to society as a whole, without isolating or condemning those that do not conform. This requires sensitive handling, but if a consensus cannot be reached then the opponents of prescriptive government will be throwing the baby of social cohesion out with the bathwater of social constraint.

J R Nash

Rusholme, Manchester