I HAVE never particularly liked Jeremy Clarkson’s schoolboy humour, but feel obliged to defend him against VJ Connor’s equally puerile letter citing Anders Breivik (HAS, Dec 3).

It is obvious from the full transcript of The One Show that he was joking about giving a balanced BBC view and equally obvious he did not mean it literally.

It is a sad fact that you can’t say anything in the UK, without some humourless, politically correct, apologist jumping on some bandwagon. Generally, at the same time, trying to tie totally different subjects together, such as Breivik or Ross and Brand. So much for free speech in this country.

Ron Wright, Ferryhill.

OH dear, I wonder what has become of the famous British sense of humour?

Many years ago an episode of Till Death Us Do Part with Alf Garnett would pass without a murmur.

Now we have the remarks of Jeremy Clarkson on a lightweight TV programme causing the bowels of the sensitive to be in turmoil.

Clarkson makes his living from saying this kind of stuff and the intelligence of those who deem his remarks to be at all serious must be called into question.

His appearance on The One Show was to promote the sales of his latest DVD which will, no doubt, also be full of Clarkson’s own brand of wisdom. He will, therefore, have wanted to create interest in what he had to say. He has certainly succeeded.

Humour is a personal thing and I think, in these tense times, it behoves us all to lighten up a bit.

Chris Greenwell, Darlington.