ALWAYS at the cutting edge of topical comment, Fred Shawcross continues to punch his weight journalistically.

Recently the CND was touched upon in his column. This elicited a response from Mr Pitlock (BEN, August 15).

There is something about this man and his friends that, in my opinion, is misguided. He covets the column inches Fred gets.

Heaven forbid you grant him extra space to dispense more garbage.

Who do they think they represent or influence anyway?

Group Captain Leonard Cheshire is up there -- VC, DSO with two bars, DFC, Order of Merit, and official observer at Nagasaki in 1945 -- and is ranked with Gandhi as a humanitarian by those who know about these things.

He regretted Dresden, Nagasaki and Hiroshima but could live with it. Alas, he is no longer with us to have the 'A' bomb debated with Mr Pittock.

It would have been, as they say, no contest. Having said that, it is unfortunate that it required such drastic and catastrophic actions to make the enemy sit up and take notice.

It is little wonder that today, many young Japanese today have difficulty coming to terms with the deeds of their grandparents.

We can all feel for those hapless people, but forgive me if I don't bow my head for them.

It could remind me of a time when if I hadn't bowed, I could have had mine chopped off!

As for you Fred, continue to sock it to em!

T Mellows

Hughes Avenue

Horwich