PETER MULLEN wonders why we’re so touchy about insults nowadays (Echo, Nov 6).

This matter has become even more absurd than he suggests: it is actually illegal under Section 5 of the Public Order Act to insult anyone.

This state of affairs seems scarcely believable.

Since 99.99 per cent of insults go unpunished, you have to wonder what the motives are of those politicians who want Section 5 retained.

I suggest they want the state to have the right to arrest almost anyone anytime.

And it’s no surprise that twice as many Labour MPs want to have that power of arbitrary arrest as compared to Tory or Lib Dem MPs.

Another explanation is perhaps that every society has to have a religion, and the new religion, political correctness, is simply filling the void left by the collapse of Christianity.

Ralph Musgrave, Durham.