I WAS interested by the amount of personal abuse I received on last week's Letters page in response to my comments about Ivan Lewis MP and his vote in support of the war on Iraq.

Regarding "Long-Term Labour Member", I have always made a point of not replying to anonymous correspondence. Suffice to say that it is very easy to make a cheap and nasty personal attack -- as well as to lend support to a war -- while hiding behind a pseudonym. It's a good job our service people are somewhat braver than this correspondent.

When he/she has the guts to put his/her name to a letter, I might bother to reply. Until then I would suggest that readers treat it with the contempt it deserves.

As to Alan Quinn of Whittaker Lane, Prestwich, I do not know him. I represented St Mary's Ward, which does not cover Whittaker Lane, so it's not really surprising that he should be unaware of the amount of work I did in my ward.

Like many hard-working councillors, I did much behind the scenes and dealt as best as I could with any individuals who contacted me. Some were obviously pleased, to judge by the letters and cards I received. Not all of us are self-publicists.

I raised the matter of Israel because it was thrown into the war equation late in the day, in the vain hope of winning some support for action.

Everyone knows that the USA is luke-warm when dealing with Israel. Israel rejects any reasonable solution out-of-hand and Britain will probably hope that it is all quietly forgotten when this war is over, as Blair hasn't a cat-in-hell's chance of moving Bush on this problem.

I do not condone suicide bombers, but everyone condemned the ANC and Nelson Mandela as terrorists. When you are backed into a corner then violence, unfortunately, is often the result. I seem to remember the Stern Gang murdered British soldiers before the birth of Israel; now one of their members is a leading Israeli politician.

Alan Bright is interested in arguing semantics. In an illegal war, all deaths are murder. The Israelis operate their own system of apartheid, therefore genocide.

Peter Doherty, writing in Fifth Column, complains that I never told him why I resigned as a councillor. I don't remember you asking me Peter!

Finally, I originally wrote asking Ivan Lewis to reply on this page to my criticisms; I do not want correspondence with his apologists. I am still waiting for the MP to reply.

JULIE HIGSON