Readers' letters - April 14

I do find this new form of warfare quite baffling.

Not only do we have the President of America tweeting away like an immature teenager and making threats by tweets, but it now appears that governments – via the media – inform the ‘enemy’ of their proposed plans of attack.

Is it any wonder that forewarned Assad is shipping out his planes and military personnel into safety, therefore nullifying any future attack from the allies and turning it into a fruitless gesture?

What does occur to me is that, after two world wars, and an appalling loss of life, governments apparently have learnt nothing.

Call ourselves civilised?

Incidentally, I would also like the main powers-to-be to personally inform me in advance if world war three is indeed about to break out – obviously being nuclear – so that I can hurriedly spend all my savings and enjoy myself before being totally annihilated by the stupidity of the Americans and Russians!

Karl Sheridan

Address supplied

Fine litterbug companies

I, like Peter Dugdale, am disgusted at the state of the M65, which must be the dirtiest motorway in Britain (LP Letters, April 5).

From what I could tell (without stopping to look), a lot of the rubbish is large plastic sheeting and other industrial waste. Where has this come from? We need to start investing in catching the culprits and fining them and their companies heavily, which will pay for the clean-up. Once we have caught and fined people for littering and publicised this, I am sure it will act as a deterrent to others that any form of littering is unacceptable and will meet a heavy fine.

Alison Gabbott

via email

Not much of a return for risk

Cuadrilla has reported recently that the four wells which it has been granted permission to drill show “signs” of a “sizable quantity of shale gas...enough to power 5,000 homes for 30 years”.

There are about 650,000 homes in Lancashire, which means that the four wells together might provide one year’s worth of gas for each one.

This is not much of a return considering the rape of the Lancashire environment and the legacy of risk for future generations.

John Prance

Penwortham

Letter written by ancestor

My mother drew my attention to a letter which appeared in your paper (LP Letters, February 8).

The letter found by Mr Philip Wade was actually written by my great great uncle George Hagen.

His brother James Hagen (not Hagin) was my great grandfather, who moved from Foulsham in Norfolk to work on Preston Docks.

My mother, Dorothy Webster, George’s great niece, is now 94 years old and still lives in Preston. I am not aware of any direct descendants of George and Grace, but thought your correspondent might be interested to hear that there is still a family connection to Preston.

Dr John Webster

via email