I READ Paul Furness's letter (June 11) with amazement.

Does he really buy two of the top broadsheets in this country, the Daily Telegraph and The Guardian, only to scan them for (imagined) insults from the south to the north and then apparently tabulate them.

I suggest he tries doing the crossword instead or perhaps gets out more (even on a bicycle).

Also, I always thought the 'Red Rose' county was to the west of Yorkshire, not the south.

He will also be surprised to learn that I, a southerner, have three cloth caps.

However, long may this argument continue.

It makes a pleasant change from Big Brother, Celebrity Love Island and all the other dross we get in the media.

Mike Usherwood,

Mendip Close,

Huntington,

York.

Updated: 10:43 Friday, June 24, 2005