Nuclear security

SIR – I believe, like many environmentalists, that nuclear power – especially fusion – is the best chance to save the planet from global warming. However, the juxtaposition between saving the planet and destroying it could not be better illustrated than by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. First, he threatens the West with nuclear attack, then he potentially weaponises nuclear power stations by recklessly attacking them. Chernobyl and Fukushima are stark examples of what can go wrong.

The best way to prevent Russian nuclear attack is to have our own nuclear weapons, which has prevented nuclear conflict since the Second World War. In order to realise the full potential of nuclear power we must fully think through all security and environmental considerations.

We need a comprehensive safety plan, including a network of “intelligent” sensors and beefed-up security, to ensure that we save the planet rather than destroy it.

Hamish de Bretton-gordon

Former Commander UK and Nato CBRN Forces

Magdalene College Cambridge

SIR – In March 1938 Sir Neville Henderson, the British ambassador in Berlin, obtained a long-awaited interview with Adolf Hitler. Afterwards, the ambassador left thoroughly discouraged. In his report he lamented that Hitler’s “sense of values is so abnormal that argument seems powerless … His capacity for self-deception and his incapacity to see any point which does not meet his own case are fantastic, and no perversion of the truth seems too great for him to accept.”

Vladimir Putin fits exactly into this mould, which should perhaps influence how Western democracies deal with him.

John Mccammon

Coleraine, Co Londonderry

SIR – I suspect that many share my discomfort with the All England Club’s decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players from Wimbledon (Sport, May 11).

Expecting them categorically to denounce Mr Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is likely to put them, and their families still living in those countries, at significant risk.

If a political point is to be made, should they not be permitted to forfeit their nationality – play as independents – and any trophies they might win, but retain their prize money?

Rory Laird

Dollar, Clackmannanshire