HAVING read Bryan Marlowe's column (Evening Press, April 20) I suggest he tries to get on the same wave length as some of our young people instead of always criticising them.

Suggesting as he did, that mobile phones were the 'in thing' - a status symbol in the playground - I wish to point out that those 'in things' as you call them are sometimes a necessity for the young people when violence and attacks on the streets are so common place

My 16-year-old granddaughter has a mobile phone, not to have an 'in thing' but to feel more secure when she is out and about.

As for a phone home card, Mr Marlowe, a phone box can seem a long way away in an emergency.

O J Simpson,

Arran Place, York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.