Letters In Brief

Sir: What a pity that Frederick Starkey (letter, 31 May) was denied my experience of being a captive of the Japanese from 1942 to 1945. If he had been he would have had a different view of the dropping of the atomic bombs.

Our lives were quite definitely saved by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. If, instead of the bombs, the Allies had involved such countries as Malaya, we would definitely have been liquidated. Thousands of FEPOWs, who survived as a direct result of President Truman's decision to drop the bombs, will be eternally grateful to him.

S W SADDINGTON

Atherstone,

Warwickshire

Sir: Deborah Orr hits the nail on the head when she asks how Scottish children are expected to embrace religious tolerance when "Scotland continues to build identical schools side by side, and playmates part at the school gates" (report, 2 June).

Until the Catholic Church drops its insistence on separate schools and sends its children to join the Muslims, Sikhs, Jews, Protestants and countless others in our state comprehensives, I fear the ridding of sectarianism from our society may be as distant a prospect as ever.

IAN MORRISON

Broxburn, West Lothian

Sir: There seems to be no real evidence that the Government's housing policy and estimates for future housing really reflect the demographic trend towards an older population and more single home-owners (letters, 31 May). What is needed are appropriate planning guidelines and incentives to developers to build small, easily managed units adjacent to shops and public transport, rather than more profitable four- or five-bedroomed homes or "toy town" estates.

Initiatives to make moving house easier would also help and perhaps counteract the tendency for people to extend properties.

JOHN BAKER

Sheffield