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WHERE’S THE fun in getting drunk on Millennium Eve? Half the fun of getting drunk is the sense that you are doing something slightly naughty. The best session you ever have is when you accidentally bump into a neighbour you have never spoken to before, having popped out for some celery. You pop into a grimy pub for a swift pint, and six hours later you’re both playing pool against two blokes who tell you they have escaped from a prison on the Isle of Man. Then you somehow stumble across somewhere selling a late drink in the most unlikely place, such as a launderette, and the next morning you ring in sick, saying you must have eaten a dodgy pork chop. Sir: Is it morally justifiable to vilify a traitor to the British state on the evidence supplied by a traitor to the Soviet state?

LEONARD PRIDE
Cleckheaton,West Yorkshire. How do I know this? Because I have tried to find out what I can about them and to think the matter through carefully.There are probably better ways of helping them than encouraging them in such an activity.MONICA HALLLondon N19.

Christian charity is not a matter of a personal feel-good factor but of using the talents – literally and metaphorically – that we are given wisely.
Lest I appear utterly heartless at this festive season, perhaps I should point out that the women who beg on the Tube are also putting themselves, and the small children they usually have with them, at risk. The money they collect is not necessarily for their own benefit, and they may sometimes be acting under duress. Given political motivation, such conduct is, according to the Bill, terrorism.
If Mr Straw is the liberal he says he is, this is one of the things he should change.TONY SKILLENReader in PhilosophyUniversity of Kent at Canterbury. Sir: Even if I were to follow the Biblical injunction to sell all I have and give it to the poor, it wouldn’t be very helpful unless I made sure that the proceeds went to the genuinely needy (letter, 23 December). A court could reasonably interpret “any” as attaching as much to “property” as to “person”. Now, to destroy a window, fence, gate, billboard or banner is to commit “serious violence” against it. Sir: The letter of the Home Secretary’s proposed Prevention of Terrorism Bill gives ample scope for anxiety about its spirit and likely impact.

Take the key phrase, “serious violence against any person or property”. Nobody should shout at any guest in their home, and if I was ever shouted at in somebody else’s home I should take it as an immediate cue to go home myself.Her attitudes to the older generation are patronising and thoughtless, and I would feel rather sorry for her mother-in-law if she had one.Mrs MARY CHAPPELLOver Kellet, Lancashire. This can be achieved by far more subtle means, for example, “why don’t you pour yourself a drink and put your feet up”, or “I am so grateful for your help but everything is under control now”.In particular I take exception to her advice to a mother-in-law not to take it personally if she is shouted at. Sir: Having read your article “Mothers-in-law `expect too much of sons’ wives’ ” (report, 21 December), I must write to put over the mother-in-law point of view. I find Dr Apter’s generalisations about mothers-in-law rather insulting and not accurate either, in particular her advice to daughters-in-law on how to survive Christmas with mother-in-law.
Any person staying over can present problems, and it is useful to allocate tasks to include a guest in the preparations, but there is surely no need to be so blunt as to ask to be left alone in the kitchen. Let this be a monument to the people rather than an individual

PETER ALLEN
Worthing, West Sussex. What does this incident say about the true meaning of “free speech” in this country?

ALASTAIR STEVENS
Newport, Essex.