I REFER to Dr Barry Worthington's two letters in recent Bury Times.

In the spirit of dialogue, please note that I have been on this earth for 82 years, even though my wife's view is that I am only clinging on.

It seems to me that both Remainers and the Leavers, of which I am of the Leaving persuasion, both have valid points.

I believe that we should leave because us Leavers do not want to be governed by Brussels.

We have fought two world wars to emphasise this point of view.

When we were seeking entry to what I believed would be a customs union, ie the removal of trade tariff so that we could trade with Europe with out restriction.

We seem to be paying a lot of money to trade under the burden of a mass of petty restrictions.

Upon joining the union, the French battle hard to obstruct us and now we want to leave, they threaten to battle to stop us leaving.

The biggest bugbear for me is having rulings arrived at in our courts overturned in the European Court.

Many of us do not want to be part of a European state. The notion of a European armed force frightens me.

No doubt it would have its headquarters in France.

I am sure that we will continue to be friends with all the European countries. My son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren live in Belgium and I do not envisage being at odds with them.

Finally, we must control our own borders tightly because of the terrorist threat.

No offence Dr Worthington, but I rest my case.

JT Cale

Vernon Road

Greenmount