Iknow that no one ever promised me a rose garden, but after years of encountering a variety of examples of the mindless gratuitous behaviour of that strange minority who enjoy seeing the shoulders of others slump, I still cannot begin to comprehend them.

Viewed in the context of the history of mankind to date and of the lives that millions of others live in the world today, it is impossible to deny that we live in the kindest and calmest of times in one of the freest parts of the planet. Yet vandals, thugs and spoilers still abound. The reason for this observation stems from a very minor incident in the grand scheme of things.

I am on Twitter. It is a very useful way of disseminating information to those who are interested – and because of my profession and slight fame there are a few who are interested.

I tweeted yesterday of my delight in discovering the brilliant TV series Breaking Bad.

I had just finished the first series and said I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. Wrong! Red rag to a certain kind of bull, it seems.

Total stranger (now blocked) tweets me several facts about characters, saying ‘that’s what happens next’.

He was the only one among the many others who envied me the impending discovery of the story to come, having watched themselves and shared my eager anticipation. It seems the more we have as a species, the less some of us appreciate the fact that we are so lucky to have the breadth of experience and quality of life available that most of us enjoy.

And certainly someone who has access to a computer and the internet is not by any measure that makes sense ‘deprived’. And the life experiences that are offered to excuse the antisocial behaviour of some people apply equally to those who would never willingly hurt another person for fun.

Yes, I know this incident is minor to the point of being trivial, but it is an indicator of an increasing desire by some young males (mainly) to spoil, to disrupt and sneer. The internet offers them the opportunity to do so without raising their heads above the parapet.

The trolling of the vulnerable in schools is the most repellent example of this. At least the old-style school bully did it face to face and ran the risk of detection and retribution.