Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Acclaimed author Anthony Horowitz believes parts of the internet are ‘foul, disgusting and cruel’ and that ‘evil is getting the upper hand’.

In a powerful speech yesterday, the best-selling children’s adventure writer said the web ‘unlocked something quite dark in humanity’. He said: ‘There is so much in the internet that is foul and disgusting and cruel. It’s an interesting mix.’

Speaking at the Oxford Literary Festival, the Foyle’s War and Midsomer Murders author conceded that the internet was the greatest invention of his lifetime but said it was also frightening.

The 57-year-old creator of the Alex Rider and The Power of Five series said there is a ‘constant struggle within people themselves and society for good and evil’ and that the internet is part of this.

He said his passionate feelings on the subject arose in part from vicious online comments he received after a recent television appearance.

Using the examples of church sex scandals, politicians’ expenses and phone-hacking, he added: ‘In the last few years every single pillar of society has collapsed one after the other.

‘I can’t remember as a boy growing up that so many pillars were found to be so rotten.

‘It does bother me that evil is getting the upper hand.