I WAS incensed and disgusted to read Mike Bentley's Saturday Soundoff which suggested that so far only 60 people have actually died from bird flu and most of these victims had caught the disease because they had sex with chickens (October 15).

The article was ill informed, ill judged and downright insulting. It is not what I would have expected of a local newspaper that claims it is a quality, professional journal. I cannot imagine that such poor taste was supposed to be "tongue in cheek".

Reporting like this puts your paper in the gutter alongside the worst of the tabloid press.

I can only guess that the article writer has misinterpreted the stories that he has borrowed from the national newspapers and he hasn't had the sense to distinguish between "sleep with their chickens" and fornicate with them.

It was absolutely appalling and something needs to be done to put the matter right starting with an apology to those who the article will surely offend and not least, to those who have died from this terrible disease and those who inevitably will.

Gary Flakes,

St Swithin's Walk,

Holgate, York.

Editor's note: Mike Bentley's Saturday Soundoff is a provocative and humorous look at the week's events, and his suggestion that people were infected with bird flu after having sex with chickens was not meant to be taken seriously

Updated: 09:56 Friday, October 21, 2005