RIGHT-wing magazine The Spectator has been criticised for insulting Geordies.

The magazine's editor, Boris Johnson, last month had to apologise to Liverpud-lians for accusing them of "wallowing in victimhood" over the death of Iraq hostage Ken Bigley.

But in last week's edition it was the turn of columnist Rod Liddle, this time taking aim at the people of Newcastle.

In an article on healthy eating, Liddle called them "monkeys" and "morons", and criticised the local dialect.

Newcastle City Council leader Peter Arnold said: "I would like him to come to Newcastle and say what he has said face-to-face to Geordies and see what he gets.

"If he doesn't understand how to 'taak the taak' then I suggest he gets an education, because it shows his ignorance and not ours."

In his article, Liddle describes how his ex-colleagues on Today "sent a reporter to a supermarket in Newcastle and vox-popped a bunch of Geordie monkeys as they paid for their purchases".

He said a Newcastle woman had said she did not agree with healthy eating and told researchers: "I don't like healthy food. I like unhealthy food."

He dismissed Geordies as "morons" and said nobody else in the UK could understand the dialect.

The magazine's Deputy Editor, Stuart Reed, said: "Rod Liddle's piece has an element of satire about it.

"We actually admire the common sense of Geordies and think they are far bigger in spirit and have a better sense of humour than to let this type of thing bother them too much."