It is hard to determine whether Katy Balls’ article was issuing a warning or advocating further promotion for the new defence secretary (Is Penny Mordaunt the one to watch? Journal, 4 May). More balance might have been evident had there been reference to Mordaunt’s first official engagement on 3 May, when she attended the thanksgiving service for nuclear weapons at Westminster Abbey (Report, 2 May).
If she “passionately cares about each department she works in”, then celebrating 50 years of preparedness to commit mass murder and destroy the planet speaks volumes about her kind of care. And if “like Nelson, she believes in leading by example and that success ought to be rewarded”, one can only think of Trident’s capabilities and despair.
Anita Bromley
Prestonpans, East Lothian
• It was striking to note the bizarre ceremony at Westminster Abbey last week. These submarines carry nuclear weapons and their crews are trained to obey orders to fire missiles whose warheads will bring destruction.
If nuclear weapons were supposed to be a deterrent to keep the peace, this has undoubtedly failed, and the list of post-1945 wars runs to several pages. We are now spending over £200bn on yet another nuclear weapons system to replace Trident.
There is a UN treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons just waiting for more signatory states to give it the force of law. Britain should sign it and lead the world towards a nuclear-free future.
Alex Orr
Edinburgh
• Thank you, Steve Bell, for your profound cartoon on the nuclear deterrent (Journal, 3 May). As George MacLeod, the great Scottish cleric, pacifist and first world war hero, might well have said, “truly, a sermon in stone”.
Fr Alec Mitchell
Anglesey, Wales
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters
• Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition
