DON'T you think the BEN has recently been overdoing the use of the word "controversial"?

If this is done to appease that minority of Bolton's population who view every successful move away from Victorian social tyranny as a defeat, you are wasting your time, for their appetite for the reversal of social progress is insatiable.

You used the word again -- three times -- in your reports of local actor Chris Finch's part in Coronation Street (April 6), assisted the following day by Angela Kelly who wrote of Chris's "controversial role of gay nurse Karl."

Really! Is Angela not aware that there have been gay male nurses ever since men were admitted to the profession? And God help the profession if they were to suddenly disappear. And does she not know that Ofcom and its predecessors have long since ruled that the depiction of gay life on television -- even before the nine o'clock watershed -- is perfectly acceptable?

And can she not see that people who kick up a fuss about a gay kiss are indulging in pure homophobia?

Even if Granada try to put a controversial slant on these things in their press releases in order to entice more viewers, it would be nice to think that the BEN could be more circumspect, if only to discourage that primitive section of Bolton society who, far from coming to terms with gay life, are still having difficulty accepting betting shops, Sunday cinemas and votes for women!

Allan Horsfall

Bolton