Snide remarks are just likeplayground name-calling

Yet its potential for anonymity sadly allows bile to be unleashed by trolls; faceless individuals who clearly have nothing better to do.

Internet ‘trolling’ is on the rise. Many people, famous and unknown alike, have become online targets of what amounts to nothing short of bullying by complete strangers with too much time on their hands.

They’re too cowardly to voice their petty nastiness face-to-face, so they lurk in the shadows instead.

It takes virtually nothing these days to lure these hissing, snarling and spitting trolls from their caves into the sunlight. At best, they’re full of pointless commentary, at worst they’re needlessly poisonous, vile and cruel.

A friend once made a completely innocent post on a dedicated website when sharing her childhood memories and had lots of lovely responses – except for one particular, small-minded individual.

It became a battle of wits, with my poor friend tactfully trying to defend herself against increasingly puerile abuse, until she blocked them.

What a pity that nasty jibes appear to be the norm online, but kindness, tolerance and keeping one’s beak out are not.

Luckily she had no mental health issues, but judging by some of the harrowing news stories on cyberbullying, who knows where this could have potentially led?

How can these trolls be sure they are not lobbing that final ‘last straw’?

It’s a strange old world when people feel such need for attention that they have to interject with unsolicited venom, usually using daft pseudonyms. I wonder what sort of pleasure these morons actually gain from it?

Now I completely understand that you ‘can’t please all of the people all of the time’. But, as my late mum used to say, ‘if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say it’.

Healthy debate is one thing, and we are all entitled to our opinions, but snide, petty, deliberately inflammatory remarks just for the sake of it smack of school playground name-calling, which I’d like to think that all of us normal adults grow out of.

WHY DO PARENTS LET THEIR LITTLE DARLINGS RUN RIOT IN THE AISLES?

Why do parents let their little darlings run riot around supermarkets as if they think they’re an adventure playground?

I’m not talking toddlers having tantrums here. Most parents have been through that experience at some time or other and it’s very hard to reason with an out-of-control two-year old.

No, I mean junior school kids playing around, racing up the aisles, screeching at each other, banging into things and even hiding among the produce.

Usually there are chin-wagging parents to be found, blocking the way with trollies and having a good old natter.

It would be nice if they attempted to keep a modicum of control rather than standing benignly by while their offspring recreate the latest Power Rangers moves.

FITNESS QUEST HAS LED TO ME LEARNING A LOT OF NEW THEORIES

It’s been interesting to have to reject some of my most deeply-ingrained health habits, such as low-fat everything, and learn new theories, since embarking on a fitness quest.

Like most of us, I thought that if you ate less and exercised more, you’d probably lose a few pounds and be fitter.

Apparently not. Eating less actually sends signals to drive the body into ‘famine’ mode, whereby it holds on to fat reserves. This is why many people dieting traditionally see initial success, but then give up long-term.

Exercising harder at the same time doubly informs our bodies that we must be in famine, as we’re clearly moving around more, hunting all the extra food we need.

So it makes us fatter, not fitter.