Under the heading "Democracy is a devil in disguise" (Letters, May 11), Simon Boyd argues voting should not be a right, it should be earned through responsibility.

He broadens this assertion by warning rights can legitimise selfish actions of some individuals leading us to environmental oblivion and he uses Nietzsche to aver "The strong need protecting from the weak", which I take to mean the ethical and considerate are in danger from the morally weak.

I do not want to live in a society where rights dominate over individual responsibility.

Afghan hijackers have been allowed to stay in Britain recently because of their "human rights" and the Home Office has released dangerous individuals only to create more victims because their right to be freed had not been accompanied by a contract recognising their responsibility to the world they were rejoining.

"Rights" allow a patriarchal dominance of the unprotected and survives by feeding on the exploitation of them.

Vivisection is justified by the self-bestowed right of man to use animals for its own end. By speaking out in favour of multi-national pharmaceuticals and signing an on-line petition for animal testing our Prime Minister has pandered to the vested interests of organisations which depend upon the continuation of all animal abuse.

Animals should have a higher moral priority than humans as we have a responsibility to help the weak and vulnerable and not a right to treat them as we feel fit.

-David Hammond, Hassocks