AS the owner of a pair of striped breeks worn by my father at numerous launches on the Clyde, one of the last being HMS Hood in 1918, when he was a financial comptroller with the Admiralty, I write to congratulate Brian Quail for his beautifully composed and thought-provoking letter today.

Whatever the arguments for nuclear deterrents in a dangeorus world, Vengeance is a singularly unfortunate name for the latest Trident submarine.

James Blyth,

40 Robsland Avenue, Ayr. September 11.