Judge not until you know facts

I am writing in response to the replies to my letter about single-parent families.

K Tonks, from Telford, and M Allford, aged 15, from Shrewsbury, seem to think I have a closed mind, but they are wrong.

It was not me who said 70 per cent of criminals and drug addicts come from single-parent families and that most of their children end up dependent on benefits, it was the chairman of the Conservative Party's Social Justice Group, Iain Duncan Smith. He has spent years looking at this.

I was just agreeing with him about his concern for these very worrying stats, and did not mean to upset any single parents.

K Tonks and M Allford might be a bit shocked to know that I was also brought up by a single parent and that I have had a very happy marriage, three children and five grandchildren, and I also ran a successful business for over 30 years.

I think I am also part of the 30 per cent, the same as them, whose single parents must be very proud of them.

P B Johnston, Shrewsbury