IF I have an “agenda” – and Steve Chandler avers that I have (Oxford Mail ViewPoints, April 15) – then the first item thereon must be: Forbidding the taking of life, followed by: Forbidding the making of weapons.

However, human beings being the strange and, on the whole, selfish and cruel creatures that they are, that scenario is unlikely ever to happen, certainly not in my lifetime.

I make no apologies whatsoever in stating that it is my belief that the instruction of children to handle lethal weapons, whatever the intention of adults with regard to the purpose to which those weapons may be put, is wrong, unethical and an abuse of power.

It follows, therefore, that I do not think that clay shooting – a mere substitute for bird shooting – should be an Olympic sport.

Anticipating further comment on my pacifist views, I am well aware of mankind’s ingenuity in utilising a variety of objects that may be used as weapons but that does not invalidate my contention that every living creature, human or not, has a right to life – a short life for many, if they happen to be prey to a predator but that is life, not sport.

BEA BRADLEY, Cuxham Road, Watlington