SIR – Recent letters which suggest raising the minimum age to 21 for buying alcohol are perhaps a tad Draconian.

That would, after all, discriminate against the majority of young adults who drink occasionally and responsibly as part of their process of growing up and socialising.

It would also seem bizarre to allow our young folk to marry, join the army, vote and gamble, while still unable to buy a pint of lager or a Bacardi Breezer. And it’s not only the under-21s who cause the problems; look around the city centre and see those much older creating drunken mayhem.

Perhaps we should consider a ‘drinking licence’ granted at the age of 18, but which may be endorsed or withdrawn if the holder causes intoxicated trouble. It would then become an offence to supply alcohol in a public place to anyone without a licence, and that would include friends buying booze for a ‘banned’ drinker.

With that approach, we would not be penalising the well-behaved majority, but would have a sanction against irresponsible drinkers of all ages, which could have the sobering benefit of encouraging more responsible enjoyment of alcohol by all.

Graham Hoyle, Kirkbourne Grove, Baildon, Shipley