Wed 13 Dec 2006

The Suffolk murders

David Starkey's guests are Baroness Julia Neuberger, Ekow Eshun and Peter Hitchens.

A fifth sex worker has been found dead in East Anglia. David Blunkett, as Home Secretary, suggested measures to legalise some brothels, and proposed giving town councils the powers to set up zones where prostitution would be legal, and a Government measure announced earlier this year, to allow two prostitutes and a receptionist to work together, has yet to be implemented. Kerb crawling remains illegal. Meanwhile, the print and broadcast media is giving the Suffolk deaths almost blanket coverage.

Does the vulnerability of sex workers mean it's time to legalise brothels so prostitutes aren't forced to work on the streets? Are our attitudes to prostitution part of a bigger moral confusion about sex? Is the tone of the media coverage helpful, either in this particular case, or for our attitudes in general?