It surprises me to hear that frustrated passengers, queuing for hours in immigration control at our airports, and who resort to ‘hand-clapping’, now risk the attention of the police and a potential caution, presumably under the Public Order Act.

While as a practising lawyer I question the validity of a caution in terms that such behaviour may not be criminal at all, I am reminded that, for hundreds of years, audiences ranging from the theatres to clubs, and not forgetting our enthusiastic football crowds, have expressed their disapproval of players and performers in this time-honoured fashion.

If we are to operate a level playing field on this issue, I wonder if there are enough police vans to arrest a waiting queue of hundreds of disgruntled passengers at Heathrow - or perhaps the entire audience of the London Palladium, or even Wembley Stadium? It seems to me that reform of the law is long overdue in terms of freedom of expression and common sense.

David Kirwan, Kirwans, Moreton, Wirral