FOUR years ago, two of Bolton's MPs - Brian Iddon and David Crausby - opposed the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq.

That was undoubtedly their finest hour. What has happened in that unhappy country since shows how right they were.

So I was doubly disappointed to see that neither Brian nor David voted against the renewal of Trident.

The world simply cannot go on like this. The Government has committed this country to retain nuclear weapons at least to the middle of this century.

I have been completely opposed to nuclear weapons for over 60 years, and must be one of the now small minority of people who can remember the news bulletin announcing the bombing of Hiroshima.

I was appalled when I was 15, and now, at 77, that horror has not been dimmed by the years.

Despite a brief remission during the Gorbachev era, the situation, as far as nuclear weapons are concerned, has grown steadily worse.

People are losing any horror they once had of them, even though they are the ultimate weapons of terror, and their so-called deterrent function rests on a willingness to use them.

When, in 1997, Tony Blair said he was willing to press the button I knew he was a man without principle and those who put their trust in him to usher in a new political era were sadly mistaken.

And so it has proved.

Malcolm Pittock, St James Avenue, Breightmet