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I have just read your coverage about the exemplary punishment inflicted by the London School of Economics on Satoshi Kanazawa for the silly claim that black women are genetically uglier than other women ("Sorry for the ugly race stuff", 15 September).

I would like to confess that I recently referred to some of my department as "a right ugly bunch of bastards" and wish to submit myself to equal penalties (ie, being barred from publishing in non-peer-reviewed outlets for 12 months and from teaching any compulsory courses this academic year).

Surprisingly, a large number of my colleagues would also like to admit to similar failings and would relish such a lashing.

Edward Higgs, Department of history, University of Essex