Phew!thats a relief Richard.

   In answer to James Salmon: No I've not 'gone soft'! My previous comment opened with remarks about homosexuality however these remarks were edited; it is the prerogative of the editor to do as he sees fit.

If I might attempt to reintroduce one of those remarks, may I simply note here that 293 homosexuals out of 407 diagnoses is a whopping 72%! It is remarkable that homosexuals make up 72% of HIV diagnoses but constitute only 1% of the general population as a whole!

In answer to Baz/Anon1705: I note your points about pragmatism and your reference to AIDS in Africa. I don't live in 'cloud cuckooland'! I advocate an 'ABC' approach to solving the British sexual disease crisis, i.e. 'Abstinence, Be faithful, or use Condoms'. In the 'ABC' approach the emphasis is very much upon heavily encouraging the 'A' and the 'B', with 'C' being simply the pragmatic advice to those who choose to disregard 'A' and 'B'.

I am firmly persuaded that the best situation of all is a society in which everybody practises 'chastity before marriage and fidelity within' (whether borne out of religious conviction or not). Furthermore the reasons for this go much deeper than simply avoiding the transmission of disease; the benefits to participants and society as a whole of keeping sex within faithful marriages are manifold and profound.

'Sex educators', advocates of promiscuous 'safe sex' and certainly condom manufacturers aren't very keen on publicising the truth about condom failure! Here it is, exclusive to the Salford Advertiser...

There is no such thing as 'safe sex' in the sense of using condoms whilst being promiscuous. The only true safe sex is mutual monogamy between uninfected partners or, put another way, sex between two virgins who marry and remain faithful for life.

The majority of people do not use condoms consistently (and especially teenagers). Consistent condom use is practised by only 24% of men and 18% of women in the UK. Therefore it is rather obvious that a policy [ostensibly] to combat disease transmission, which is based solely on promoting 'condom culture', is inevitably going to make matters worse. And of course even when used consistently condoms can and do split or slip off (about 5% of the time), not to mention that they are virtually useless when used for anal intercourse. Furthermore, even consistent condom use by a promiscuous person tends only to delay - but does not prevent - the transmission of disease in the long-term. Indeed there are many STIs which condoms are particularly ineffective against, including for example the human papilloma virus, herpes and genital warts.

The UK would do well to look to Uganda for inspiration on how to drastically reduce sexual disease. This African nation has been remarkably successful in reducing STIs, in particular HIV. How did Uganda do it? Answer: ABC.

   Richard, I agree with you that fidelity and restraint should be promoted and out of marriage sex discouraged. However, unfortunately this will take many decades and generations to achieve a change in attitudes towards sex.

What do we do in the meantime to stop the proliferation of HIV and other STD's?

We cannot simply let people suffer for their 'sin'.

We cannot write them off under the principle that they will deserve what ever they catch.

   Hmmm. Richard, I can't help thinking your argument is fatally flawed in one way.

Look at Africa - the AIDS pandemic there shows the Catholic Church and Christianity's failings. Alright, granted, education about having sex with one partner only might help, but this will not work by itself - and nor should it. You are attempting to change a culture and that cannot be done with a blinkered approach. You need to couple that teaching with a back-up, and condoms WILL do that in the short-term. In the longer term, yes, I agree with you, we need to educate people to be less promiscuous but we also need to think about the here and now.

If Christianity is so concerned with the sanctity of life, perhaps we need to make some compromises to do just that.

   Mr Carvath you managed to condemn modern immorallity and not once mention the gay community. You're not going soft on us now are you?

   The statutory public sector [the NHS, ie Salford Primary Care Trust] and the agencies and organisations it works with [like Brook, fpa, Marie Stopes etc] simply exacerbate the problem of sexual disease transmission because they encourage, promote and facilitate 'condom culture' and promiscuity with the mythology of 'safe sex'.

There is forty years of overwhelming statistical evidence which proves that the more children are 'sex educated' and the more people are encouraged to use condoms (whilst being promiscuous) then the inevitable and obvious result is the spiralling proliferation of unwanted pregnancies, abortions, sexually-transmitted diseases, infertility and a declining birth rate.

I'm going to give Public Health Commissioner Geoff Holliday a good piece of common sense advice (backed up by forty years of statistics) absolutely for free...

As long as the NHS and its pals keep on condoning and promoting promiscuous sexual behaviour the problem will continue to get worse and worse. It really is that simple Geoff! Condoms are not the solution to the problem; indeed 'condom culture' is a root cause of the problem. The solution is to stop promoting promiscuity by giving out condoms and pills like smarties [and ban abortion] and instead start encouraging 'chastity before mariage and fidelity within'.

The truth is this: if you remain a virgin until marriage, marry a virgin and remain faithful in that marriage you aren't ever going to be in any danger of sexually-transmitted diseases.

Sex in the right setting of marriage is not the problem here. It is immoral sex wherein lies the problem. Promiscuity is the problem. Until the State accepts this and stops the NHS and schools from pushing children into promiscuity then the problem will continue to go from bad to worse. Why pursue a policy which is clearly proven to make matters worse? It's absolute madness! Children should be taught chastity - not condoms - and until they are the British crisis of abortion and disease will continue.

   I would like to know how many of these people are immigrants.