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Read our <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161106015430/http://www.independent.co.uk/service/privacy-policy-a6184181.html">Privacy</a> and <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161106015430/http://www.independent.co.uk/service/cookie-policy-a6184186.html">Cookie</a> Policies to find out more.</p> </div> <div class="tabs"></div> <div class="region region-content"> <article class="full-article" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/NewsArticle"> <meta itemprop="mainEntityOfPage" content="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/louis-smith-s-punishment-is-too-severe-a7393816.html"> <div itemprop="publisher" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Organization"> <meta itemprop="name" content="The Independent"> <link itemprop="sameAs" href="http://www.independent.co.uk"> <link itemprop="logo" href="https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/brand-logo.png"> </div> <header> <ol vocab="http://schema.org/" typeof="BreadcrumbList" class="breadcrumbs clearfix"><li property="itemListElement" typeof="ListItem"><a property="item" typeof="WebPage" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161106015430/http://www.independent.co.uk/voices"><span property="name">Voices</span></a></li><li property="itemListElement" typeof="ListItem"><a property="item" typeof="WebPage" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161106015430/http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters"><span property="name">Letters</span></a></li></ol> <h1 itemprop="headline" class=" voices-title">Louis Smith has been punished too harshly by the British Gymnastic Association </h1> <div class="intro"> <p>Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk  </p> </div> <ul class="caption meta inline-pipes-list"> <li class="author" itemprop="author" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"> <span itemprop="name"><a href="/web/20161106015430/http://www.independent.co.uk/author/letters" title="Letters" itemprop="sameAs">Letters</a></span> </li> <li title="2 November 2016 15:42 London"><time data-microtimes="{"published":"1478101320000","display":0,"changed":"1478101320000"}" datetime="15:42, 2 November 2016">Wednesday 2 November 2016 15:42 BST</time></li> <li class="comments"> <a href="#commentsDiv" id="comment-count" class="icon-comment"></a> </li> </ul> <div id="gigya-share-btns-1"></div> </header> <div class="push-notifications-cta"></div> <figure itemprop="associatedMedia image" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" class="featured-media medium-width"> <meta itemprop="representativeOfPage" content="true"> <meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20161106015430/https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2014/05/29/18/louis-smith.jpg"> <meta itemprop="width" content="2048"> <meta itemprop="height" content="1536"> <picture title="louis-smith.jpg">  <source srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20161106015430im_/https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/article_medium/public/thumbnails/image/2014/05/29/18/louis-smith.jpg 1x" media="(min-width: 620px) and (max-width: 929px)"/> <source srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20161106015430im_/https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/article_large/public/thumbnails/image/2014/05/29/18/louis-smith.jpg 1x" media="(min-width: 930px) and (max-width: 1239px)"/> <source srcset="https://web.archive.org/web/20161106015430im_/https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_large/public/thumbnails/image/2014/05/29/18/louis-smith.jpg 1x" media="(min-width: 1240px)"/>  <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20161106015430im_/https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/article_small/public/thumbnails/image/2014/05/29/18/louis-smith.jpg" alt="louis-smith.jpg" title="louis-smith.jpg"/> </picture> <figcaption itemprop="description" class="caption"> Louis Smith has been handed a two-month ban from gymnastics after appearing to mock Islam in a video <span class="copyright">Getty Images</span> </figcaption> </figure> <div class="article-wrapper clearfix"> <div class="main-content-column"> <div class="text-wrapper" itemprop="articleBody"> <p>In a moment of drunken foolishness in private Louis Smith mocked Muslim prayer practices. When the video went public, he acknowledged his regret for his foolishness by absenting himself from the Olympic celebrations in Manchester and publicly humbling himself by being televised visiting mosques to learn about their faith and apologise to them. That should have been an end to the saga.</p> <p>By banning him from the sport, the action of the British Gymnastics Association is likely to have created more resentment against the Muslim faith, in disproportion to the momentary foolish actions of a young man who has given much to his country over many years of rigorous and disciplined behaviour to reach the consistently high levels of gymnastic achievement. A few moments of foolishness should not outweigh years of dedication.</p> <p><strong>Anne MacCallum</strong><br/><em>Milton Keynes</em></p> <p> </p> <h2>A fair man</h2> <p>By what standard does Sean O’Grady assess Jacob Rees-Mogg ‘an otherwise admirably fair man’? Rees-Mogg is an overprivileged, arrogant and opinionated individual.</p> <p><strong>Graham Hayes</strong><br/><em>Address supplied</em></p> <p> </p> <h2>I, Daniel Blake</h2> <p>Jeremy Corbyn’s public suggestion that Theresa May should watch “I Daniel Blake” is part of a commendable recommitment to fighting poverty. However, this commitment does have one significant credibility problem in the form of the Parliamentary Labour Party. It’s a bit hard to convince the public that unlike the Tories you are serious about fighting poverty, when the PLP still contains a significant number of left-over Blairites who spent their time in Cabinet cutting access to welfare and smearing the poor.</p> <p>This is yet another argument for greater internal democracy, allowing grassroots members to have regular periodic votes on who should be their elected representatives.</p> <p><strong>Gavin Lewis</strong><br/><em>Manchester</em></p> <p> </p> <h2>Sharia law</h2> <p>Your editorial calls for the need to reform sharia law on the basis that judges were in effect locking women in abusive marriages because reconciliation for them was far important than ending spousal violence. There is nothing wrong with Islamic law. Just Judges and imams who come to the UK who need to be educated and trained as many come with an inadequate grasp of English, Islamic sharia and cross cultural traditions. Islam abolished the killing of female children and liberated them from the shackles of oppression and subjugation. In a nutshell, contrary to false misconceptions and negative stereotypes, Islam espouses moderation, tolerance, modernity, the acceptance of others, mercy, compassion, political pluralism, social justice, harmonious coexistence, peace, human dignity, gender parity and interfaith dialogue and understanding.</p> <p><strong>Munjed Farid Al Qutob</strong><br/><em>London</em></p> <p> </p> <h2>Changing our habits</h2> <p>In the last few days alone, we’ve seen three major stories about mobile devices and their potential to distract. Research out this week to coincide with our second Accident Awareness Week puts the issue in stark relief. Almost half of UK adults admit they have put themselves in danger because they’ve been distracted whilst walking or driving.</p> <p>Mobile technology is a huge enabler. It allows us to stay in touch, do business on the move, feed our curiosity, and share the highs and lows of life with those close to us. Technology itself is not the danger. It’s the hold many allow it to have when we should be utterly focused on a different task.</p> <p>This time next year we hope our annual survey will demonstrate a downward trend in technology related distraction. Technology is going nowhere, so this relies on every one of us being honest with ourselves, and changing the relationship we have to our mobile phones.</p> <p>If protecting our own safety isn’t enough to convince us, the stories we’ve seen this week should serve as a reminder of the sometimes devastating impact one moment’s distraction can have on those around us.</p> <p><strong>Simon Trott, Managing Director, National Accident Helpline</strong><br/><em>Address supplied</em></p> <meta itemprop="datePublished" content="2016-11-02T15:42:00+00:00"/> <ul class="inline-pipes-list"> <li> More about: </li> <li><a itemprop="keywords" href="/web/20161106015430/http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/letters">Letters</a></li> <li><a itemprop="keywords" href="/web/20161106015430/http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/louis-smith">Louis Smith</a></li> <li><a itemprop="keywords" href="/web/20161106015430/http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/Olympics">Olympics</a></li> <li><a itemprop="keywords" 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