IN response to the letter from Frank L Jones (Postbag, October 12), what I wish to say in no way diminishes the horror still felt when we hear of Japanese atrocities in the last war. There seemed to be a curious lack of reprisals for those responsible for those inhuman deeds.

Nevertheless, when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima there was a general feeling of shock such as we suffered on September 11 this year. The second bomb deepened foreboding. We knew that a terrible weapon had been unleashed and could never be recalled. One bomb could devastate a city.

There was also some sorrow for the civilians in Hiroshima. Like civilians the world over they had little say if any about the need for war and the conducting of the war.

In the 1950's Kathleen Lonsdale FRS, Professor of Chemistry at London University, spoke to a large audience in Malvern about the dangers of developing nuclear power. From her learned, thoughtful and Christian essay "Security and Responsibility" I quote

"Science may find new sources of power, but if these come from nuclear fuel, they will add substantially to human insecurity".

This essay was the Alex Wood memorial Lecture 1954. Working for peace after the war, Alex Wood was nevertheless deeply concerned that work he had done must to some extent have contributed to the development of atomic weapons.

On holiday last year in an Austrian village, a sale was held at our hotel with many of the goods made by local people. The proceeds were to help pay for the annual holiday for children from Chernobyl. The people at Pfunnds had not forgotten the tragedy.

In the light of the terrible attack of September 11 we have seen that protection from enemy attack can prove useless. Was Kathleen Lonsdale right in saying that 'as a base from which atomic attacks could be made, Great Britain has deliberately accepted the role of target in any future atomic war.'

September 11 taught us the vulnerability of defence systems.

MRS BETTY TAYLOR, Priory Road, Malvern.