SIR – A politician in Wales killed himself from the shock of being accused of things relating to alleged inappropriate sexual contact with women. He had been immediately sacked from his position of opposition front bench and suspended membership of the Labour Party.

He was not told who accused him or the nature of the complaints. He had no charges laid against him, never saw a courtroom, yet he could not hang on while this mental storm was raging. The cruel will say his death denotes ‘guilt,’ however trivial, or even factual. RIP.

There is a plethora of excuses which today sees society given the 'right' to despise men, publicly, even when behaving normally, and doing nothing more than flirting with a woman in the 'old-fashioned' sense. This now can be called harassment, and much worse, it seems.

After all, there is Harvey Weinstein factor, now lately on the scene to reinforce the stereotype that all men are creeps, and if they are not all known to be such, it is only because they've not all been found out yet. It follows men are a 'natural' danger within their own families, without men feeling safe to express outrage at such a suggestion.

Men are in effect, silenced. The ‘New Inquisition’ is well under way, and men, if we're still allowed to call ourselves such an offensive word, as the outlawed gender, have no say.

The disturbing factor is, in the midst of all of this misandry, it is males who will not defend themselves in demanding we are looked upon as decent human beings, and frequently will agree that all the negativity is justified. The hapless male is expected to bleat that, even though we have the 'potential' to be the scum of the Earth, and attempt to convince the closed-minded man-haters and the attendant sycophants that we shy away from our ‘natural’ instincts which begins with the disrespect for women we are told we are born with?

I mean, the human race could go into definite decline if men are told they must not approach prospective women they fancy because of being branded as having only the one thing on their mind, and love and being close to a woman, with honourable intentions, including the sexual nature of both men and women, becomes suspect in men, only.

The fact is, respect for the male is all but lost, and it's as if this is a welcome evolutionary distinction, we are assured. This is how the cowed media and chastened overall political agendas lead people to easily accept as proven that men are an inherently violent / inferior gender, with reasons to be constantly accounting for our role in this world.

Since the time of the introduction of divorce, the onslaught against Irish men has been unrelenting, to the point where if we ask for a leg to stand on, it is immediately countered with how could we possibly feel we have a right to feel marginalised and be subject to lies and legal subjugation just because we are men?

Robert Sullivan,

Bantry.