I HAVE for many months read the letters page of the Citizen and found it interesting, controversial and entertaining. I have never written to you before.

I am now writing because I am very concerned at the intolerant attitude of some of your correspondents to those who, for one reason or another, feel unable to have their names and addresses publicised.

I, personally, could not care less w

ho reads my name and address. I am in no way vulnerable. I can, however, think of a dozen good reasons why people might feel inhibited from expressing their views if they had to reveal their identity to all and sundry. What about the small shopkeeper who, whichever political party he attacked, would risk losing that group of customers whose loyalty was to be the other one? What about someone in a job where he knew that his immediate superior held strong views in opposition to the views that he himself wished to express and feared harassment at work if he "went public"? What about the person who fears a brick, or worse, through their window from violent extremists of one persuasion or another? Are such people not entitled to express their views and protect their identity?

"Disgusted of Tonbridge Wells," has become almost a tradition in this country. The national dailies, both broadsheet and tabloid, publish his/her letters and protect the identity of the writer. So do both the local weekly newspapers for which a few people still seem to choose to pay for.

I urge the editor of the Citizen not to allow himself to be bullied by those people who cannot answer the points made by your anonymous correspondents and , instead, choose to attack the correspondents themselves. Such bullying tactics are clearly diversionary and have been a favourite tactic of intolerant extremists since the 1930s. The Citizen has the best letters' pages of any newspaper in Lancashire, free or otherwise. Long may it remain the case.

W R Hill

Brock Street,

Lancaster

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.