Letters - Tuesday, January 12, 2021

I knew it would not be long before someone raised concerns about President Trump’s access to nuclear weapons.

M Tripper (Your Say, January 11) has done so but in so doing has perpetuated, thanks to films and books by ill-informed authors, a long standing myth about American Presidents and the nuclear arsenal. Pelosi, the very ambitious Speaker of the House of Representatives has also raised it and in so doing caused unnecessary alarm.

Exact details cannot be publicised for obvious reasons but suffice it to say that before the President can authorise the use of nuclear weapons several key actions and checks are mandatory.

These include: action regarding nuclear launch codes, known as Gold codes, by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a General and the most senior military officer, and further key checks by other very senior officials including the National Security Advisor and the Defence Secretary. It is a complex and well-oiled procedure that blocks any attempt to override it.

If there is any doubt about the President’s physical or mental capacity then, under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, his responsibility as Commander-in-Chief is passed automatically to the Vice-president.

Any order by the President deemed to be illegal would be disobeyed by the Joint Chiefs.This has been confirmed by several past Chairmans.

Trump’s behaviour is erratic but there is no danger of him setting off a nuclear Armageddon. The madman scenario beloved by the film industry is pure fiction. Incidentally, there is no red button to press.

Colonel (ret’d) Barry Clayton

Thornton Cleveleys

Politics

Wyre’s residents deserve better

Physical and mental health have taken a backseat during this pandemic. All Wyre’s swimming pools have been shut since March with gyms open sporadically. It’s time Wyre Council came up with a plan to reopen all our gyms and pools for when the current restrictions are relaxed.

We simply cannot afford any repeat of the Cabinet’s dithering and poor decision making - the pools could have opened in late July.

This lockdown may have put paid to their political decision on November 25 to reopen the much smaller and less accessible Garstang pool (at the expense of the larger and more accessible Fleetwood pool) but lockdown doesn’t excuse their poor decision.

Reports on which decisions are made should consider all available options and use all necessary data that is accurate and not misleading. To open a pool that serves 30 per cent of the population as opposed to one that could serve 70 per cent of the population was simply wrong. But what transpired at the December 15 meeting to scrutinise the Cabinet’s decision was even more bewildering! Nine Conservative councillors disregarded the overwhelming evidence and upheld the Cabinet’s unsound decision.

Their cowardly action to not insist on the production of a corrected and robust report and a reconsideration of the decision, was yet another grim day for democracy at Wyre Council, and even grimmer for our gyms and pools that remain shut.

We will be asking the Council why Coun Alan Vincent was allowed to field questions from the Committee when the Portfolio Holder responsible should have answered the questions. By allowing that, Coun Vincent’s tenuous political rants at a ‘non-political’ meeting unhelpfully distracted the Committee.

The whole thing was a mockery and without any constitutional basis. Our request for the scrutiny committee to see YMCA’s new and corrected data was disallowed, yet unrequested evidence, in the form of council responses to the issues raised in the call-in that sought to influence members, had already been seen by O&S committee members.

Wyre’s residents deserve and expect much better than this sorry excuse for democracy.

Lorraine Beavers & Cheryl Raynor

Wyre Labour Cllrs and prospective Candidates for Fleetwood East, and Fleetwood West & Cleveleys West (2021 LCC Elections)

Politics

Patel was right on Trump comments

Well done Priti Patel (pictured) for showing real statesmanship by condemning the atrocious actions of supporters of Donald Trump in Washington recently.

This kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable in any democracy. Vice President Mike Pence was right to distance himself from Trump and his supporters too.

Geoffrey Booking

via email