Letter: Legalised vice

Sir: I agree with Diane Coyle (article, 26 September). There is a strong case for legalising prostitution that goes beyond the generation of tax revenue.

But what happens to the women (and men) who can't get jobs in brothels because they are either too old, young, difficult or diseased. These are the women who are at most risk from and provide most risk to their customers, as they will surely continue to work the streets because there wouldn't be anywhere else for them to go, and in conditions made more dangerous by the legal competition.

For the legalisation of prostitution to succeed in reducing the spread of Aids and improving the "quality of life" in red-light districts, a substantial proportion of any subsequent tax revenue would need to be channelled into helping those left outside the law.

R J DIXON

London N1