Going nuclear

LET’S not be sidetracked by the misfiring of a Trident missile. ponder, instead, the interesting history of our so-called ‘independent’ deterrent.

it would have been irresponsible of president Kennedy, having agreed to supply the UK with submarinelaunched ballistic missiles, not to have ensured that they incorporated an electronic lock mechanism.

After all, what is there to distinguish a British polaris launch from an American one? A desperate harold Macmillan, keen to acquire a deterrent on the cheap, was easily fobbed off.

Bear in mind that the missile delivery system of Trident and its proposed successor has ‘made in the U.S.A.’ stamped all over it: the Yanks design and manufacture the delivery system.

Missiles have to be sent back to the U. S. for periodic overhaul and modifications. even submarinelaunched test firings are conducted in U.S. waters near cape canaveral under, needless to say, U.S. navy supervision.

persisting with Trident and its proposed replacement in order to retain our permanent Un Security council seat is to reject British pragmatism in favour of la gloire.

At least the French, to their credit, went to the trouble of developing their own missile delivery system. They own it, so they control it. YUGO KOVACH, Winterborne Houghton, Dorset.