I THINK anyone with half a brain recognises that Asbos are an insult to our intelligence.

They are an absurdity and a sham and are regarded as such by those who get them. In fact, they are something to boast about – which says it all.

I don’t know what other people’s views are, but my own solution to the problem of persistent anti-social behaviour would be the urgent and immediate reinstatement of corporal punishment: the cat-o’-nine-tails and the birch.

After a dose of that treatment the thugs would be laughing on the other side of their faces.

Tony Kelly, Crook, Co Durham.