WHEN did Britain become such an ugly, intolerant nation? It’s a question I often ask myself when I read online comments posted by users of newspaper websites (including the Argus), or diatribes on social media.

Let me give you a few examples from the Argus website this week.

A young man threatens to jump off the Millennium Bridge in Newport. Response? "Let him get on with it."

Monmouth MP David Davies suggests using water cannon to clear migrants from the roads in Calais. Response? "Well, we certainly don’t want them here. We’ve got more than enough as it is. There’s a few thousand here that can go as well."

A taxi driver is banned from driving after a court case. Response? A series of racist posts about Asians that led to us closing comments on the article.

Now in all these instances there were also comments from what seemed to me to be voices of reason; people who attempted to see both sides of a story; people who suggested there might be a middle ground or an alternative view.

By and large, they tended to get shouted down or, in the worst cases, dismissed with abusive language.

Is this really now what we are as a nation?

A place where bigots rule because they happen to have the loudest voices?

Actually, I don’t think that is the case.

The internet, although it can often seem like it, is not a barometer of the nation’s views. The media often use it as such because it’s an easy hit. We at the Argus are probably as guilty as any in that regard and therefore I acknowledge the hypocrisy.

But there is a reality out there that is far removed from those who work themselves into a lather at their keyboards. At least I hope there is.

I don’t believe we are a nation that thinks we should wash migrants off the roads so we can go on our holidays.

MPs are drawn to newspaper headlines like moths to a flame, and Mr Davies often more so than most. But there is a certain irony in him wanting water cannon used in France when his own Home Secretary will not allow it to be used on the streets of London.

I don’t believe we are a nation that would prefer to see people jump to their deaths from bridges or buildings than being saved from doing so by trained professionals.

I watched the incident on the Millennium Bridge from my apartment. At no point did I want to see the young man involved, no matter his circumstances, jump or fall into the Usk.

But I was proud to see the police officers at the scene deal with the incident with professionalism and compassion. Resources were not wasted; a life was potentially saved.

Britain has a proud history of tolerance, a proud history of reaching out to help those in need, a proud history of offering sanctuary to people fleeing persecution.

I still believe we are the nation that stood up for the rest of Europe against tyranny in the 1940s, but that then became peacetime partners and friends with those who were once our enemies.

I still believe we are the nation that welcomed the boat people of Vietnam to our shores in the 1970s.

This isn’t fluffy, fairytale stuff.

I believe in immigration controls, rather than an open-door policy. But that doesn’t mean tarring every desperate person who wants to come to this country as a benefits scrounger.

Most of all I believe we are a nation of free speech.

And that means lettingallowing people to voice their views, no matter how repugnant we might find them, while also recognising that those who shout loudest are almost always those with no solutions to offer.