LET us hope that Peter Brierley, whose soldier son was killed in Iraq, in his refusal to shake the “bloodstained” hand of Tony Blair at a reception following last week’s memorial service at St Paul’s Cathedral, London, for the 179 British personnel who died in the conflict (Echo, Oct 10), has helped to dint the exalted ego of a megalomaniac.

Susan Willis, Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough.