THERE is nothing unusual about having a bad temper at the close of the working day.

Arrogant belief in your own superiority over those you consider your social or academic inferiors is the norm for many people. It’s not very nice but no one got killed.

It’s natural to dislike being told off, whether it is by a school prefect, a traffic warden or a police officer.

Andrew Mitchell’s bust-up with a policeman outside Downing Street is an example of a common everyday occurrence of transient importance.

However, to lie when asked for an explanation is a more serious matter.

If your lie makes an innocent person look bad it is a matter of even graver concern.

By past experience we know the police, and politicians do, in fact, lie – and that is precisely why there must now be an investigation.

The facts as reported are already confused by contradictory statements. Each of these men have careers and one of them may be the victim of injustice.

Gerard Wild, Richmond

THE Tory chief whip Andrew Mitchell denies that he called a police officer a “pleb” – even though the officer in question has written in his notes that Mr Mitchell used that word.

However, the chief whip did admit that he had a bad day at the office on the day in question.

Mind you, he still managed to polish off a posh curry during his lunch hour.

If I, or any other member of the public, called a police officer a pleb, we would have been arrested and brought before a court.

My question is, if Mr Mitchell did call the policeman a “pleb”, then why didn’t he arrest him there and then?

Silly me, I forgot. It’s one rule for the politicians, and a completely different one for the rest of us.

What a pleb I am, to have thought any different.

Christopher Wardell, Darlington