AS a regular reader of the Hereford Times, I thought the front page article by the Rev Phil Williams concerning the Second World War very pertinent bearing in mind the present difficulties in the Middle East, but would like to make just one or two comments.

We often hear the assertion that today's youngsters are ungrateful for the sacrifices made by people during the war, but what these people don't realise is just how long ago this war was!

Of course, if you fought in it, it probably seems like only yesterday, but if you are only 16 and studying it at school it actually finished over 60 years ago, many years before you, or in all probability, your mother and father were born, and in reality it's just another topic on the syllabus, albeit a big one, sandwiched somewhere between the First World War and the Korean or maybe the Vietnam war.

Basically, as old sailors, soldiers and airmen die it will, inevitably, gradually slip from consciousness and become just another chapter in history.

He is right, of course, about the ideals we had after the war, most of which have slipped away, faster and faster in recent years, contributing I'm sure to the isolation and frustration evidently felt by many young people today.

Sadly, things will only improve when we get some inspired and honest leadership from our politicians, something sadly lacking in recent years.

Simon Gardner, Coombe Green, Birtsmorton