YOUR humanist correspondent, John White, is justified in complaining that humanists, atheists, agnostics, etc, cannot speak at commemorations of the war dead.

This may be because religious people believe that the dead are living up in heaven and can hear the prayers of their relatives still on earth. I think that humanists do not believe in life after death. However, one does not need to be religious to study psychic research to discover that the so-called dead are indeed alive and well in one or other realms of the spirit world.

Several leading scientists of the past belonged to the Society for Psychical Research.

Well-known people such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Battle of Britain Commander Lord Dowding studied the evidence and became keen spiritualists. We all owe an enormous debt to those who fought in two world wars, most of whom are now in the next world. Their courage and sacrifice are indeed an example to all of us.

M HUGH JONES, past chairman, OUSPR, Headley Way, Headington