I NOTE that the Ministry of Defence has responded to a whistle-blower's allegations, saying that its submarines, in particular the Trident submarines, are "completely safe" to go to sea ("Trident claims whistleblower will go to police", The Herald, May 19).
One of the main definitions of "safe" in my dictionary is "not likely to cause or lead to harm or injury". But these boats are designed, and their crew trained, to unleash mass death, suffering and destruction on cities across the world.
To call them safe is a euphemism. They are, literally, as the brave whistle blower said, a "disaster waiting to happen", since disaster is what they are designed to inflict. Let's get rid of these weapons, wherever they are, so that the world can be a safer place for all.
Tony Clarke,
11 Bowling Green Road, Whiteinch, Glasgow.
ABLE Seaman William McNeilly has a point. In the 1980s there was a peace march from Washington to Moscow. When the marchers reached Dumbarton, the local CND of which I was a member hired a bus so they could visit Faslane. On reaching the entrance to the base we were much surprised when the barriers were lifted and we were waved through. We were bemused to find ourselves inside the base.
My brother, not wanting to see the men on the gate fired, jumped out of the bus and explained that we were not base workers but ant nuclear campaigners. The driver promptly reversed. This of course happened at the height of the Cold War.
Myra Gartshore,
16 Barloan Place, Dumbarton.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article