AS a local resident and a victim of phone hacking, I have written my own soapbox response to Peter Mullen’s soapbox piece from September 20.

Whilst it is entirely true that one of the foundations of a democratic society is a free press, a nation in which politicians are unduly influenced by a handful of (unelected) press barons is not, in my opinion, democratic.

Unlike the author, I have myself been a victim of press abuse. He might like to walk in my shoes for a while. Like other ordinary, non-celebrity victims of phone hacking, I have observed ‘the health of the nation’ at close quarters.

Decades of failed self-regulation by the press, industrial-scale criminality – unchecked by the supposed regulator, a massive corporate cover-up – undetected by the supposed self regulator and a police force which is frightened of standing up to the press barons for fear of retribution and politicians who feel they depend disproportionately upon the support of newspaper editors.

To describe the pursuit of press accountability as a ‘muzzling’ process is both simplistic and naïve. Yes, we have laws in place to protect the rights of the individual, but they are often far from effective.

With freedom comes an equal measure of responsibility, yet I very much doubt that the latest industry-controlled regulator, IPSO, will be any more effective in upholding the latter than was its timorous and toothless predecessor, the PCC.