Madam, - A budgie in an Irish prison? Well, remember the film Birdman of Alcatraz(1962), based on the true story of Robert Stroud, who spent 53 years in the eponymous prison and became a world-famous ornithologist? By finding a helpless baby sparrow one day in the exercise yard and nursing it back to health, the ruthless, solitary-confined Stroud gradually discovered within himself a purpose in life. A tale of redemption - don't knock the lesson! - Yours, etc,
OLIVER McGRANE, Marley Avenue, Dublin 16.