SIR – In your editorial (T&A, November 15) regarding the speech by Kris Hopkins MP about sexual grooming and related topics, you say that “words need to be chosen carefully” lest “a whole community be stigmatised”. But you point to the need to “find solutions” – how can solutions be found if the issue is beyond discussion?

All that matters, surely, is to ask: “Is what he says true?” If it is not, then present your arguments. If it is true, are you saying that even an MP cannot express such a truth? If so, we are lost indeed.

A Michael Murphy, Wainman Street, Baildon

EDITOR’S NOTE: “There is no suggestion whatsoever that we should not discuss these issues – far from it: discussion is the only way to find solutions. But we have a legal duty not to incite racial hatred, and suggesting that only members of one faith group commit grooming offences is clearly offensive and totally inaccurate.”