It was refreshing to see that conveniently (excuse the pun) placed urinals in Southend town centre have helped revellers direct their excesses of alcohol away from shop doorways and other public areas.

However, what about the ladies, so to speak?

In this age of equal rights and political correctness it seems unfair not to allow the ladies to relieve themselves in a similar vein!

Not so sure if out in the open would appeal to the fairer sex, although maybe there is something decidedly macho about relieving yourselves in the street that has always appealed to males.

This is all about not being able to exercise a modicum of self control.

We have a greedy Government that is totally obsessesed about reaping the maximum taxes by means possible, even if it means that pubs and clubs, open 24 hours day, something that Screaming Lord Sutch included in his 1964 manifesto, and was considered ludicrous at the time.

Still the good news is that in these troubled times the mobile phone has all but replaced the long-gone red telephone boxes that were once the temporary refuge for those who were unable to control their bladders.

In my youth I did encounter the strange and smelly excesses that I naively believed belonged to some canine mongrel who had incredibly mastered the use of the phone to tell his master that he would be late home that night. Progress.

Nick Vince
Rocheway
Rochford