Thankfully I am only short, fat, gay and ginger. Could you imagine if I was, say, black, Irish and one-legged as well? That way, I could probably escape from a potential mugger while he looked at me and chose which minority slur he preferred to accompany his physical attack.

The recent Judge Anthony Thorpe case does demonstrate something I have often thought - that physical violence is treated as a minor crime by the judiciary. Ten months for a neck-slashing knife attack? What's that in real time after all the nonsense of time on remand, on bail and good behaviour?

Violence should be punished and prejudice needs to be educated against. One is up to the judges and the other is up to us all.

-Max Jackson, Brighton