DR Abdul Jaleel, the selfappointed arbiter of discernment and good taste, once again writes in objecting to a certain degree of silliness in contributions to the HAS column.

Personally, I rather like a certain degree of humour in the letters and I feel that the editor generally manages to select quite a good mix.

I like a good political rant myself, but a column full of such contributions, particularly during this period of almost unremitting economic gloom, would be too much to bear.

Alex Telford’s contribution (HAS, Nov 29) likening his local bus journey to the motion of a cocktail shaker was wry humour at its best and really made me laugh.

It bought back memories of a local service I used some years ago which, before the awareness about smoking, effectively operated a ban because their buses shook so much that it was physically impossible to light a cigarette.

VJ Connor, Bishop Auckland.