For some months now Professor Christine Wheeler-McNulty has been successfully submitting correspondence to your letters page. These letters span economics, political philosophy, the earth sciences, mass psychology, chemistry and the belief that the world is in danger of falling under a reign of global tyranny. Hitler and Soviet Communism also usually get a mention. Trenchant and authoritatively opinionated, her letters are of such length and appear with such regularity that they could easily be mistaken for the work of an unpaid columnist.

In the October 18 edition of the Watford Observer another occasional correspondent, Anthony Bramley-Harker (What’s her profession?, Letters) raised the question, that I am sure many other readers of Professor Wheeler-McNulty’s entertaining lectures must have been asking themselves for some time now: ‘Professor of what?’

READ MORE: Letter: What is profession of professor?

The gentlemanly Mr Bramley-Harker put it rather more politely or at least less bluntly but was no less curious than the rest of us. Complimenting the Professor on the breadth of her knowledge and the depth of her insight, Mr Bramley-Harker appealed to the usually voluble Professor Wheeler-McNulty to expand a little on the nature of her academic credentials.

Like the soon-to-be-disappointed Mr Bramley-Harker, I too was keen to be enlightened when I spied the Professor’s latest letter (Freedom of speech) in last Friday’s Watford Observer (October 25). Sadly the Professor either did not read, or chose to ignore Mr Bramley-Harker’s enquiry. Instead there were the by now familiar political, philosophical and historical opinions as well as the usual warnings of impending global tyranny. By past standards the piece was rather truncated but regular fans of the Professor’s writings were no doubt pleased to see that it was not too short for Hitler to get his customary mention.

Personally I would like to engage with the substance of Professor Wheeler-McNulty’s arguments but like Mr Bramley-Harker I find myself slightly intimidated by her academic rank and the prospect of engaging with an expert in an unknown discipline. In the interests of free speech and the free debate of which she approves I wonder if Professor Wheeler-McNulty could give us some encouragement by letting us know what exactly her area of expertise is?

Derek Bainbridge (Five O levels and Two A’s)

Fairfolds, Watford