SIR – I get the impression that as election day comes closer, the main political parties are getting more desperate to attract voters to their various sides.

The nastiness creeping in is just one indication of this desperation.

I don’t belong to any particular party and, to be honest, they are all starting to sound the same. But there is one thing that has caught my attention of late and that is the issue of the Trident missile system.

Suddenly, both the major parties are adamant that the British public is screaming for protection from some beastly foreign power. And all at a measly £150 billion, or thereabouts.

Was the last headline not about how our health service is falling behind and that our social care provision is in tatters? Excuse me whilst I trawl my brain to find countries so eager to invade our second rate little island that we have to put up the barricades.

Keeping the people frightened makes them easier to govern, so I hear.

Well, I don’t fear being invaded, and I’d rather the money went on keeping granny warm, kids educated and the hospitals up to scratch.

Cathy MacKay, Bailey Hills Road, Bingley