Letter: In Brief

Sir: One way of helping to reduce the number of teenage pregnancies is to stop por-traying the girls as sympa-thetic and even glamorous, as in the picture accompanying Yasmin Alibhai-Brown's article ("A new generation of mothers", 17 December).

Stop presenting teenage mothers - and fathers - as tragic victims of a consumer society or failing education system.

Give then the dignity of holding them responsible for their actions, and show them as the irresponsible and selfish children that most of them are. That might deter others.

FRANK STARTUP

Farnham,

Surrey