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  • "Calling the whole thing off certainly has its attractions; though not necessarily for the somewhat histrionic reasons Mr Smith suggests in his letter! I HAVE tried to be enthusiastic about the Olympics over the years, but it's always proved an uphill struggle. I'm into fencing and shooting - sports which we're usually quite good at (despite the hand-gun ban!) but any TV coverage always seems to get relegated into the wee small hours. Of course, my real passion is sailing (at which Brits frequently excel) but when I heard that 12 foot hoardings were being erected along the cliff-tops at Weymouth to prevent ordinary mortals with limited resources watching the action through binoculars, I gave up in despair. They don't even to that at the America's Cup for crying out loud!"
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Alarmed over missiles

9:34am Tuesday 1st May 2012 in Letters

I HAVE just heard that there is a move to position surface-to-air missiles on the roofs of tall apartments near the Olympic stadiums.

I know other air defence weapons, including fighter aircraft (who will have, apparently, a shoot-on-sight brief for unauthorised aircraft in the exclusion zone), will be deployed to counter any perceived threat from the air.

Presumably, if these are used, any interception and the subsequent shoot down may well be over heavily populated areas.

Have the authorities given any thought to the innocent people who may be killed or injured by falling debris?

LJ Maloney, Millfield Avenue, York.

• I READ with consternation the plans to use surface-to-air-missiles for the Olympic Games in London.

Are they serious? Do they expect terrorists to launch ballistic missiles against the London Games? Or maybe they are expecting the terrorist air force to bomb London instead? Can anyone please tell me which terrorist organisation has their own ballistic missile silos and/or their own air bases from which they can launch fighter or bomber aircraft?

Or perhaps they fear terrorists are going to hijack an aircraft and target the games? If so will they launch the missiles and blow it up over London with great loss of life and property, not to mention huge fires due to the burning aviation fuel causing even more damage and loss of life?

If the authorities are as worried as they appear to be, then perhaps they ought to start thinking about cancelling the games and thereby protecting possibly millions of innocent people’s lives by not exposing them to this kind of danger.

Are these the ‘well educated’ and ‘intelligent’ people who are elected to run a country?

Phil Smith, Cornlands Road, York.

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