One thing I've learned since writing for a living is never to surprised by the reaction some pieces engender. The biggest postbag I have ever received, by quite a long margin, was when I was on the Express and I wrote a couple of sentences after Britain had lost in the Davis Cup to the US. My piece was, almost in its entirety:

Who cares? It's only tennis.

The angry letters flooded in. The best was from someone who had clearly gone to a lot of trouble. Using letters that had been cut from newspapers and mags, blackmail style, it simply said:

You hate tennis because you are a fat bastard.

Whilst the latter point was 50 per cent correct, it was of course a non sequitur to associate this with the fact that I consider tennis to be mind-numbingly tedious: the sport for people who don't like sport.

Anyway, the 'don't be surprised' motto is still true. I made a throwaway remark yesterday about the fact I can't stand the sight - and, still worse, the sound - of Rachel Weisz. As of lunchtime today, I have had 63 emails from readers who have the same reaction to Ms Weisz (who may well be the most delightful woman on the planet, a fact which is utterly irrelevant to my loathing of her).

Weird, isn't it, what stirs people!?