I FOUND Rosemary Duff’s letter of July 28 (‘helping prostitutes’) a most heartening and liberal minded contribution to the vexed debate on how society should treat sex workers.

I would claim to have a little understanding of this often misunderstood group of people since the time, in the late 70s, when I was living in the East Village of New York City with a group of ‘rent boys’, as they were known.

How this came to be I will not bore fellow readers with, but suffice to say, I was living very much hand to mouth as the lads were (although not with recourse to selling my body, I hasten to add: as a much older man than them I doubt anyone would have given me much for it!).

My time with Barbie Lovechild and Miss Thing in our little house on St Mark’s Place were amongst the happiest of my life. The lads were always dancing around, dressing up and having fun (usually all night, for some reason) and were most welcoming and accepting of my very different background and outlook. They were all very friendly and open, having tumultuous love-lives, which made me feel rather English and ‘uptight’.

That it takes all sorts to make a world is as true today as it was back in the Golden Days of Disco. Fair play, Mrs Duff!

Ted Harpic, Old Town