Joseph G Miller's satirical piece on th perfect place for Trident (Letters, September 17) in fact raises a vital point.
As a submarine, Trident can of course sail anywhere with sufficient depth of water.
However, to be operational, it requires the support system at present provided by Coulport on Loch Long. Here, nestling under the hills, we have the biggest arsenal of nuclear bombs in Europe; 200 missiles buried deep within the lochside mountains. This site was chosen to withstand a direct hit from an atomic bomb.
As you don't have mountains like that in England, it follows that there is nowhere else in the UK Trident can operate from. An independent Scotland, with a written constitution which bars nuclear weapons from its territory, means - in effect - a UK free of all nuclear WMD.
I am deeply disappointed at the level of debate on independence so far. Fiscal considerations dominate the discussion. The vision of what an independent Scotland can offer the rest of the world is not mentioned.
We have it in our power to make a nuclear-free UK. This could be a huge step towards having an international ban on nuclear weapons. This could be Scotland's gift to the the rest of the world, and there can be none more vital. But only if we find the integrity and courage to be independent.
Brian M Quail,
2 Hyndland Avenue,
Glasgow.
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