In an age of ever-increasing intolerance to all kinds of minorities, the people of Firle who were responsible for the burning gypsy caravan effigy ought to bow their heads in shame.

Travellers are - like ethnic minorities, gays and asylum seekers - the target of verbal and physical abuse.

Lewes MP Norman Baker treats the matter lightly, saying it is just a part of bonfire joviality.

I believe that to be a grave mistake.

What happened at Firle that night was akin to a Ku Klux Klan rally or one of the Nazis' book burning stunts.

The whole weight of the law should be thrown at the perpetrators with a charge of racist incitement and long prison sentences as a result.

-David Broughton, St Leonards