READING about Theresa May being willing to press the nuclear button and kill hundreds of thousands of people (Evening Times July 18), do you think that ISIL would hesitate to push the button WHEN and not IF they get nukes?

Those under around 40 sadly do not seem to maintain the brains they were born with.

Would all of us like to see an end to nuclear weapons? Of course.

Is it going to happen? No.

Will we be safer without them? Again no.

Any Prime Minister who CAN press the button but says they won`t is as much use as a roof rack on a helicopter.

Sadly, for the foreseeable future, we DO need them, if only to to keep the likes of North Korea, Russia and most of the Middle East wondering.

Alex Watson, posted online

OR, put another way. PM, if the UK was under nuclear attack from another country, would you let them wipe out the nation with impunity, or would you launch a retaliatory nuclear strike against your attackers?

We all know why the question was not put this way.

Patrick Hill, posted online

THERESA May has gone up in my estimation.

She has what I takes to defend this country.

Sturgeon is the leader of a pacifist Scotland which, if independent, would have to seek the protection of the UK.

Even today, the UK’s air defence region encompasses the Republic of Ireland who are incapable of providing fast jet interception for themselves.

Robert Cohen, posted online

I WOULD do nothing but expect my prime minister to press the red button and for the submarine commander to follow the order, would you expect your armed forces to shoot to kill to defend you and this country? Of course you would.

Standard firearms and bombs kill scores of people why does nobody campaign against them? When does it become an acceptable number to kill people with standard weapons as opposed to nuclear weapons - 1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000 ?

If life is taken by force then it’s a life too much does it matter if it’s a knife, gun, bomb or nuclear?

I always find it laughable that Noble - the man behind the peace prize - invented a very potent weapon in high explosives which led to mass murder.

John McLean, posted online