Politeness please

Alexander Mckay (Letters, 22 June) might learn to respond to others with more courtesy. To Mr Mckay, correspondent Brian Quail does not offer an opinion on the futility of nuclear weapons, he “regales” us. And all of us who wish to get rid of nuclear weapons are sneeringly described as “pacifists”.

This appears to be reprehensible in Mr Mckay’s book, but it is not accurate for a great many of us who wish to see some of the billions wasted on Trident diverted into our badly under-resourced, creaking conventional armed forces.

Mr Mckay has written regularly to this paper on this topic, extolling the virtues of Trident as a deterrent, but the fact is that it’s a first-strike weapon which would annihilate millions of innocent civilians and invite a retaliatory strike on our civilian population while our politicians, generals and elite cower in their bunkers.

GILL TURNER Derby Street, Edinburgh