A regional daily columnist has urged readers to treat a national commentator with “wry tolerance” after he offered to drive its patch’s residents to a noted suicide spot.

Spectator associate editor Rod Liddle, left, said he would “happily” transport “charabancs of right-on Brightonians eager to end it all” to Beachy Head “from their debauched and smug little bijou seaside residences.”

Unsurprisingly, his comments provoked criticism from people in Brighton, including Adam Trimingham, columnist with the city’s daily newspaper The Argus.

Adam urged readers to treat Rod “with the tolerance he appears to so much dislike”.

He said: “He is a controversialist, following in the well-worn footsteps of Julie Burchill and Auberon Waugh. What he wants is people to be outraged.

“The best reaction is to regard him with the wry tolerance that is Brighton’s trademark. Without the frantic fervour he expects, Liddle may be tempted to visit Beachy Head himself.

“Alternatively he might decide, like Julie, to come and live in the city he professes to despise so much where he will be welcomed as one of its many mildly amusing but insignificant characters.”

In his column, Rod, a former reporter on the South Wales Echo, added: “This is a city which has abolished men and women so as not to offend people who aren’t entirely sure which of the two they are.

“The council has a fleet of eco-friendly electric cars which, of course, never work. It had a council leader called ‘Jason Kitcat’. It is the home of our only Green MP. It makes Islington look rational and rooted.

“Hell, if the people of Brighton can’t be arsed to make the short journey to Beachy Head, I would pay towards having Beachy Head transported to Brighton, so that it is even handier for them, and personally chaperone them towards the precipitous edge: ‘Look, look — it’s France just over there! Doesn’t the water look a lovely blue! Now take a deep breath…’

“They’re all in favour of assisted dying, after all. Well, let me lend a helping hand.”