"Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me."

So concluded The Reverend Martin Niemoller's condemnation of the inertia which allowed Hitler to pursue his wicked designs.

I do not equate the banning of fox-hunting with what happened before the war in Germany but I do rate the criminalisation of a minority by the majority on an issue such as this as a step along a slippery slope of intolerance of minorities.

I do not hunt. I have no wish to hunt but those that do should be allowed to continue. The proposed ban at this time is motivated by politics rather than animal welfare.

So many other issues are more pressing - the Iraq war, the plight of pensioners, the cost of housing, crime and so on. It is the classic action of a failing government - pick on a minority to take people's minds off our real problems.

Unfortunately, the war is not likely to allow that for some time and all Mr Blair has done is to divide this country further when his duty should be to unite it.

There is always something to ban. There is always some minority of whom the majority disapprove. Whether foxhunting falls in that category I leave to Mori but even if they do it is not a good reason to ban it.

And when they have finished with foxhunting what next? Angling? Shooting? Boxing? 4-wheel drives?

I personally am in favour of more control of filth masquerading as art.

It is far more corrosive than foxhunting will ever be and in the same way as smoking is a pollutant so is the abuse of freedom of expression.

I am not of the left. I am not good at banning things and the luvvies would never allow their right to express themselves how they choose to be curtailed. I appreciate the whole issue is full of problems.

No, the best banners come from the left. They develop a sense of outrage, claim the high moral ground and lecture us on our inadequacies. They always know best. They are intolerant of that which they do not approve.

One of the best local banners is Norman Baker, Liberal (or at least that is what he says) Democrat MP for Lewes. If it begins with F he is against it - foxhunting, four-wheel-drives and football in Falmer.

If it begins with E, he is in favour - he favours the Euro and further European integration but we are not meant to know that.

So let us be careful about bans. Something we cherish might go next.

-IA Nicholson, chairman, Seaford Conservatives, Marine Drive, Seaford