[Romantic Old Bird]

OK Andy.

However, my opinions and concerns were there long before I saw Fahrenheit 9/11 and in fact before 9/11 itself.

I was convinced that the US had appointed a gung-ho, witless man who saw his duty as fostering 'right thinking values' (ie anti-gay, anti-abortion etc) and finding an excuse to bomb I-raq for his Daddy.

Connections between 9/11 and Iraq are tenuous to say the least.

All he and regrettably we have done is further alienate and polarise the many millions of people who follow the Islamic faith.

Extremists aside, they have valid beliefs and a lifestyle which we may not fully understand but cannot condemn out of hand.

The middle east is seriously unstable and where a void appears such as it has in Iraq, it is unlikely to be filled by reason and tolerance. Saddam Hussein was undoubtedly a despotic and evil man, but the reason he was left behind in 1992 was I imagine the lack of a viable alternative. A new leader, now matter how noble, cannot be foisted upon people without due process.

Look what happened in the Baltic after the break up of the Hapsburg Empire. It's still festering now, and there are many other examples all over the world and through history.

All wars have to end up with people talking around a table, no matter how many corpses they leave behind

It is a time to learn to live with each other and heal differences.

Yesterdays election result will not have furthered this.