Letter: Bombers with a lost cause

Sir: Rooting around in my bookshelves, I came across a cartoon book about Ulster in the Seventies. It was amusing and relevant at the time when I served two tours there as a company commander. I find it considerably less amusing, and frighteningly relevant as I wish my son godspeed on the first of his (how many?) Irish tours.

Are our masters serious about the IRA? There has never been more than a handful of them. We knew their names then and presumably know them now. It is a quarter of a century since this campaign started and no progress has been made. What timescale has the Government in mind? The nation spends billions on defence and yet appears unwilling and unable to defend us against this particular cancer which closes down our transport systems, disrupts our lives with random searches and denies us access to many areas of our own heritage.

Yours faithfully,

DAVID WORTH

King's Lynn, Norfolk

21 March