Sir – We surely all accept these days, don’t we, that it is wrong, and punishable by law, to comment adversely on a person’s gender, sexuality, religion, obesity or race.

Except if the person is German, of course, when disagreeable remarks seem to be the order of the day.

And I speak as an enthusiastic Germanist, having read German at the university here and being married to a German.

In a world where one can end up in court for calling a Person of Unrestricted Growth ‘fatty’, it is unbelievable that an august organ such as yours should countenance the publication of an article which attacks, in the most vituperative manner imaginable, persons who grow beards (October 3, First Person by Annette Cunningham who ‘regularly uses Veet’.

I’m not sure what that is, but I’m sorry for her and hope that she’ll be better soon). This is an extremely serious hate crime targeted at a vulnerable minority. It left me, as a person who sports a very fine beard, feeling stressed, humiliated and depressed.

And, unless you publish a full apology, I shall feel duty-bound to put the matter in the hands of the Crown Prosecution Service and the European Court of Human Rights.

Nigel ‘Don’t Call Me Beardy’ Clarke, Oxford