i Editor's letter: Cheaper than therapy

I told you that you need a thick skin to appear in print. Especially so, when critical, eagle-eyed readers question the correct dimensions for entries to our “Cartoonist Idol”.

So here you are: for a pocket cartoon it’s 49mm by 65mm; to enter strips of three or four cells, it’s 142 x 46mm; for a landscape: 228 x 136mm.

icartoons@independent.co.uk is the address for email entries. If you must use post: i cartoons, i, 2 Derry St, London W8 5HF. The deadline for entry is 10 October, and no swearing, please.

The above call for entries got us chatting about abuse, and how some contributors can dish it out, but not take it, while others have rhino’s hides. They need them. Selecting the letters for p14 from a bulging in-box is, usually, a gratifying task, made more so by your kind comments about i. Even when you have a moan, you often put something nice at the end to soften the blow. Most of you! Other letters start off gently only to reveal bite later. Now that Cooper’s gone to Libya, Burchill’s been retired and Johann Hari’s gone back to school, the greatest amount of venom is reserved, surprisingly, for our respected Sportswriter of the Year, James Lawton. Jim is big enough to fight his own battles, but the letters we gets on his column often accuse him of favouritism. He is, you say, clearly a Man Utd fan, a Gooner or a “Citeh” nut. In truth, I don’t know what Jim’s team is. Curious as to whether others did, I asked our sports desk. “Liverpool”, said one. “No, Everton”, said another. Now, I could just ask the excellent Mr Lawton, and tell you, but what fun is that? It might even inhibit your comments. As I’ve said before: i, 20p, cheaper than therapy.