MANY businesses and company bosses have acclaimed the introduction of overseas call centres a great success in terms of trade, and certainly a greatly reduced wage bill together with increased related profits; notwithstanding the fact that thousands of

MANY businesses and company bosses have acclaimed the introduction of overseas 'call centres' a great success in terms of trade, and certainly a greatly reduced wage bill together with increased related profits; notwithstanding the fact that thousands of jobs have been stolen from the British workforce.

If this is a success story then I think that it is high time to take such a project one step further.

With the introduction of Romania and Bulgaria into Europe there is little doubt in most people's minds that within a short period of time there will be yet another very sharp increase in crime in this country leading to our penal institutions becoming saturated, coupled with more expense to the taxpayer.

Here then is a possible foolproof solution which I and many others feel should be introduced immediately.

Bearing in mind the success of the call centres in the Indian sub-continent let it be proposed that such countries as India assist us in resolving this problem in a similar manner - simply by 'looking after' our more dangerous criminals in their jails (at a reduced cost, of course), thereby giving their labour force an opportunity of employment and freeing some space in our own establishments.

This system has worked well for us in the past and I can foresee no reason whatsoever why it should not be implemented in today's political climate.

ANTHONY EDWARDS JOHNSON

March