I AM a regular reader of HAS, both in the newspaper and on the internet.

However, letters on the internet are becoming unreadable.

The site has been hijacked by both the rabid right and the rabid left. You don’t get reasoned debate or discussion anymore, all you see now is name calling and insults being thrown. My mantra is that if you would not insult someone to their face, do not do it in print.

Unfortunately, I think that the people who resort to petty insults would appear not to have the intelligence to debate matters in the proper way.

I admit, that I was once drawn into that scenario, however I soon extricated myself as, on reflection, I knew that it was wrong.

In other words, I learnt from my mistake. I doubt that the present contributors would do the same. If you did, perhaps more people would contribute, knowing that they would not be insulted or ridiculed.

Bob West, Durham.