""The most signed e-petition on the No 10 website is one calling for convicted rioters to lose benefit payments.""

That would surely flag up as a "cruel and/or inhuman punishment" and therefore be ruled illegal.

On this subject I find myself having to agree wholeheartedly (a first, I believe) with Leveller's comment.

""We have adequate laws and punishments in place - they just need to be applied. I'm afraid knee-jerk reactions will never provide a proper solution.

I think we should be humbled by the quiet, dignified appeal of the father on one of the three young men who were murdered.""

A saner, and more productive, petition would be one demanding that those laws be implemented in the fullest, most stringent, manner.

Don T.