TODAY we live in an age when everyone wants to express their opinion whatever the subject.

There is nothing basically wrong with freedom of expression. Our press is founded on this important principle, it’s a major strength and we’re proud of it. However, when people regularly prove to have no stop button when it comes to the extremes and frequency of such opinions then perhaps this is something we need to temper.

You might well think that’s rich coming from someone who regularly expresses opinions about all kinds of subjects, and I could hardly dispute that. But, I also accept that extremes of opinion have their own consequences, that there’s no point in being unnecessarily cruel, and try to act accordingly.

Unfortunately, there are many who feel that voicing even dangerous opinions is fine. They reckon they have a right to be brutal, unfeeling and downright inflammatory if they want to – but there is a price to be paid for this.

It’s all very well making highly personal remarks as an anonymous poster on Facebook, but when you’re making a living from offering extreme views you step into a different world. And this is exactly what outspoken former Apprentice and Celebrity Big Brother contestant Katie Hopkins is experiencing.

She now says she is so frightened of being murdered over her controversial views that she has installed a panic button at her family home. Police advised her to invest in this security measure after she was inundated with death threats from the public.

She probably first became a hate figure in 2013 when she said she didn’t allow her children to play with other children based on their names. And more recently she described dementia patients as “bed blockers”, questioning the point of living with the disease.

This latter in particular is very cruel to patients and their families, and pretty pointless. It’s very easy to make caustic comments about the vulnerable but we all need some sort of principles to adhere to.

No-one condones threats of violence to people simply because of what they have said, but those who make a living purely out of vitriol should not be surprised if this same vitriol is what they encourage in others.

If Katie was as concerned for her husband and children as she makes out, she’d button it for a little while – and turn that prodigious intellect to something more productive.