Cartoon: John Sadler 

• ALTHOUGH one would not know it, there has been a bit of a brouhaha on the Heath, concerning friendly dogs and their owners and bathing trunks.

Not even my most inventive comic attempts to lighten the mood and portray the agitation as if a scene from an old Ealing comedy, has brought a flicker of illumination of the great principle involved.

That is to say, the logical truth that a Hampstead Heath byelaw should always be based on need for it, evidence of that need and finally and most importantly, be in keeping with the objectives and spirit of the 1871 Hampstead Heath Act to which we all owe a debt of gratitude and loyalty.

ROBERT SUTHERLAND SMITH
Widecombe Way, N2