I AM not, of course, surprised that none of my opponents are willing to engage in a public debate with me in front of an audience and with an independent chairperson.

Perhaps they might ask themselves why I am prepared to debate and they are not

But let me shore up their damaged credibility by offering them a few tips when writing to the Bolton Evening News in future.

1. Always make sure of your basic facts. Do not confuse North Vietnam (which no longer exists) with North Korea; do not assert the existence of a right of conquest unknown to international law, and do not assume that the Palestine Authority is represented at the United Nations (all these are mistakes made in recent letters).

2. Do not abuse the authors of books you have not read. To call a former Fellow of King's College Cambridge and of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University a "crackpot author" does not injure Gar Alperovitz, it injures you

3. Do realise that, if a major work of scholarship calls one of your favourite views into question, you cannot merely reassert that view without taking account of the new evidence against it. Any repetition of the popular view of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which ignores Alperovitz's magnum opus (which means that you have to read it in its entirety) is worthless.

4. Do not believe any assertion made by a political leader, however frequently repeated, for which there is no evidence. There is no evidence whatsoever that Iraq means to attack Britain or the US, while its neighbours have actually gone out of their way to declare that they do not regard Iraq as a threat.

In conclusion, I will make one concession. If it makes my opponents (and, particularly, Peter Inch) feel good, I give them permission to abuse me to their hearts' content

Malcolm Pittock

St James Avenue

Breightmet, Bolton