1 JUNE 1991, Page 25

Sir: Jews can crack anti-Semitic jokes, and blacks anti-black jokes,

for the same reason that I can call my mother an old cow, but if you call my mother an old cow I'll punch your nose. Our right to be rude about our own families — and our races are our extended families — is not one we generally extend to other people.

Winston Fletcher

Souldem Mill, Bicester, Oxfordshire