DAVID Flaxington has again asked what CND is 'really up to' (Citizen Letters). We are not up to anything in the implied sense of the question.

We are campaigning for the abolition of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction. Far from being outdated, we have unfinished business.

First, the atomic bombs which destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki were superseded by the hydrogen bomb, with greater killing power, and next we no longer depended on planes - which can be shot out of the sky - to deliver these devices.

Instead, we have nuclear armed Trident submarines patrolling the oceans, capable of destroying many cities simultaneously.

Now we have the threat of a new generation of nuclear weapons, pioneered by the USA with the support of the British Government. Research and development are taking place at the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment with the aim producing tactical 'mini' nukes for battlefield use.

Regarding Menwith Hill, Mr Flaxington may be happy to have the Echelon system listening to his phone calls and reading his faxes and e-mail, but that is not the only function of this US base.

As one of a chain of bases circling the world, Menwith Hill is involved in the militarisation of space so that it will be the fourth dimension of US forces operating with land, sea and air based weapons systems.

In view of the foregoing, CND is now campaigning for three objectives -

o Decommissioning of Trident

o No battlefield nukes

o Keep space for peace

We shall not be getting up to anything nefarious.

Audrey Harland, Lancaster CND.