A LIFETIME IN THE PUBLIC EYE (Letter to Dom Post, April 10)

During her lifetime in the public eye (April 10), Dame Margaret Bazley told police and the rugby board they had to hire women to say “we don’t tolerate drunkenness, violence and sexual abuse”.

Go back a bit, to the time when Bazley began her career, when the police and rugby were all-male preserves, and consider how much time and money was spent combatting such behaviour. Not a lot. And don’t tell me it was all swept under the carpet.

Back then, broadly speaking boys and girls alike grew up with both a mother and father present to them. The “valuable perspectives” Bazley now advises were then acquired holistically, built in by absorbing the values and attitudes of the opposing sex from parents who chose in marriage to support each other and their offspring, life-long.

Of course there’s no going back, but let’s reflect on the fact that lack of commitment often brings tragedy in its train.