SIR - Some of your correspondents asked what planet I was living on following my suggestion that crime rates have been falling year on year for sometime now.

Well, the latest figures from the police and the British Crime Survey show that in the last three months of last year there was a further decrease of 12 per cent overall, with significant reductions in all categories except firearms and drugs.

At the same time, hospitals have reported fewer cases of non-accidental injury.

I know my critics will again claim these statistics are made up and that, in truth, crime is out of control and rising.

Their difficulty in proving their point was neatly explained by Harold Wilson when faced with similar suggestions about the reliability of the numbers out of work.

He said that although the actual percentage was very low, for anyone who has lost his job the unemployment rate is 100 per cent.

The same applies to victims of crime who naturally find it impossible to take the wider view.

  • Brian Holmans, Langley Road, Bingley