Brian Behan's call for direct democracy in deciding issues of war by referendum (Letters, September 26) can be answered in the words of protest singer, born-again Christian and occasional Brighton visitor Bob Dylan.

On his album Infidels, he sings about US foreign policy (for which read the UK as well) in Union Sundown and concludes: "Democracy didn't rule the world/You'd better get that in your head/This world is ruled by violence/ But I guess that's better left unsaid.

-W Fraser, Hailsham