I fully realise that I enjoy something of a privileged position in that I have a platform to express my views.

But I am also mindful that my views aren’t shared by everyone.

I wouldn’t want to be accused of stifling free speech and that’s why, whether or not you agree with me, you can have your say as well.

You can comment on online or for those of you wishing to connect in a more traditional way, you can send in your letters.

In fact, I positively welcome the feedback. It’s fair to say that occasionally I have shifted – or softened – my position after listening to what you have to say.

But a line has to be drawn and every now and then that line is crossed. The one that sticks in my mind is the ‘correspondent’ who disagreed with my stance on Brexit and added: “Why don’t you hurry up and die.”

While it was upsetting, I let it slide. I have better things to do with my time than engage with a keyboard warrior spewing his bile, probably from his mum’s box room.

But there is a bigger problem and a recent report in The Guardian highlights this.

My thanks to Belinda Ryan of the Local Democracy Reporting Service who emailed all 82 councillors serving on Cheshire East Council asking if they had been abused or harassed because they were a councillor and, if so, what form it took, whether the police had been involved and if they had even thought of quitting because of it.

The LDRS launched its enquiry after the recent announcement from Macclesfield councillor James Barber that he will not be seeking re-election because of the abuse he has suffered, mainly because of his age, and the news that police have been contacted because of hate mail sent to former mayor Sarah Pochin.

And then there was the somewhat shocking revelation that police were involved after Mobberley councillor Charlotte Leach was stalked on train journeys and then became targeted by an obscene caller and a troll, while High Legh councillor Kate Parkinson said she was too embarrassed to contact the authorities after she was threatened, grabbed and screamed at by a resident ‘because she was a Conservative’.

I was shocked but not surprised by the results. What did shock me, however, was the revelation that while not all councillors had suffered such extreme treatment, even some of those who said they received no abuse did qualify it with, ‘other than what you expect’.

And that’s where we are at – councillors expecting at least some form of abuse.

It is quite clear that I have my personal world view that perhaps isn’t quite the same as a lot of other people’s and I am prepared to argue the my point.

But I would hope I never stray into the realms of abuse and won’t tolerate those who would seek to spread abuse and hate.

For what it’s worth, I have a lot of time for those who are prepared to put themselves forward as councillors.

They are doing a public good. And even they, I suspect, realise and understand that not everyone is going to agree with their decisions.

I also understand people can be passionate, have strong views and want to defend their positions but debate is one thing, abuse is something all together different.

And it’s not just councillors. Only a couple of weeks ago, the crisis in grassroots football refereeing was exposed in all its unpleasantness when a children’s league cancelled all its matches in direct response to ‘multiple incidents of inappropriate and threatening behaviour’.

Merseyside Youth Football League, which has more than 150 teams, called off an entire day of matches.

A spokesman for the league said: “We have to take drastic action,” and added it had convened a compulsory meeting of all teams and warned that the alternative “is no league at all” and asked “would you volunteer your time to be abused and threatened?”

There are other examples in other walks of life and it just saddens me. You have to ask what sort of society do you want to live in.