A place to heal for former prisoners | Brief letters

2026-03-25 - 17:00

Merfyn Turner’s legacy | Life under Trump | Millipede banknotes | Mickles and muckles | Swallowing tea The former prisoner’s letter (22 March) was heartbreaking to read. The Welsh prison social worker Merfyn Turner opened Norman House in 1955, where he and his wife, Shirley, provided a loving, caring, supporting family atmosphere from where former prisoners, jobless and without kinship support, could rebuild their lives and heal. None of those who lived in these houses reoffended. Merfyn recognised their emotional needs as well as their practical ones. We need someone like him to create new Norman Houses now. Margaret Owen London • “The sense that the US is in the grip of a deranged figure is quite common among Iranians,” writes Patrick Wintour (‘Stop this savage being’: Iranians fear postponed Trump attack is merely disaster delayed, 23 March). Just Iranians? Tim Smith Settle, North Yorkshire Continue reading...