Virginia Cumming (Letters, 21 June) implies that millions who read the Daily Mail are complicit in hate speech as they consume “rightwing” extremism by making the choice to read the newspaper, and by implication should therefore be in the same dock as the publisher. Small in number we may be, but I am (probably) one of the few Guardian subscribers who occasionally reads the Mail newspaper, for balance, and with an open mind. Martin Rowson’s Sun and Daily Mail white van cartoon really plumbed the depths of leftwing hatred – and blinkered ignorance – towards the “ordinary” people who choose to read the Mail (and other tabloids) and the Mail has quite rightly responded with both barrels.

The exceptional Martin is entitled to draw and castigate as he wishes, and Virginia can huff and puff about the Mail, but it is entitled to its opinions as much as the Guardian, whose snobby metropolitan-left editorials, op-ed articles and letters may offend the many more who read the Mail.

Charles Foster

Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire

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