"Re Tuesday's item re Facebook, I'm 70 +, haven't joined and have no intention of doing so. But a year ago noted that my old school ( London day Public) had a facebook site and got into it and was startled by what it contained. Strands about "The most popular master", "The most rubbish master", critiques of master's personal appearances and habits, a degree of cyber bullying of contemporaries, homophobic comments - I wonder how masters can maintain any kind of discipline. I don't know if and how the school authorities can close it down. By the way, this is not "Dotheboys Hall" we are talking about, but a school that still appears in the top decile for academic results."

David Fuller's view Thank you for this very interesting observation, which is perhaps not all that surprising.

Crowds - whether on the streets, in markets, or parliaments and other political arenas, or on internet sites - can easily become mobs, displaying mankind's baser instincts. When crowds are not under the most civilising or somnambulant influences, they can become predatory, regressive, goading and aggressively competitive. This is particularly true when people feel that they are participating in mob behaviour under the cloak of anonymity.