'Who are we to say what is right?'

She talks to Women's Editor Christen Pears about her work and the possibility of war against Iraq.

BROWSING through the volumes on her father's bookcase, the teenage Monica Frisch came across a book about the bombing of Hiroshima. The accounts of devastation and loss of life horrified her, leaving an indelible impression and sparking a lifelong involvement with the peace movement.

But while her discovery of the book was accidental, it was hardly surprising that she found it in her father's collection - Otto Frisch, was one of the scientists who helped develop the atomic bomb.

In view of her background, some may find it odd that Monica went on to become such a strong advocate of the peace movement. Others have assumed it's a reaction to her father's work, perhaps a way of assuaging guilt, but she disagrees.

"I don't think it's at all strange that I've become involved in the peace movement and I don't think my father's role was a deciding or precipitating factor. Perhaps I feel I have more of a personal responsibility but I think anyone who feels strongly about the issues has a responsibility to do what they can about them," she explains.

"I can't speak for my father but I hope he would be proud of what I'm doing. He was a humane man and he was involved in the Pugwash movement, formed by scientists to oppose nuclear weapons, and he was aware of CND from the early days. After he died, I remember finding CND pamphlets from the 50s on his bookshelf."

Otto Frisch was a Viennese Jew who fled to Denmark in 1934 as the Nazi persecutions began. He worked in Scandinavia until 1938, moving to Britain the following year, where he worked on the military research programme at Birmingham University. It was there that he and his colleague, Rudolph Peierls, made the first calculation that just a few pounds of the uranium isotope U235 were needed to produce an explosion equivalent to several thousand tonnes of dynamite.

Frisch and Peierls sent a carefully worded memo about their discovery to the British government, drawing attention to the potential impact and effects of radiation on civilians which, they said, "may make it unsuitable as a weapon for use by this country".

Their fears were proved correct with the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and the threat of nuclear war has hung over the globe ever since.

THE anti-war stickers in the window of Monica's terraced house in Ryton, near Gateshead, are left over from the last Gulf War, and they tell me I've arrived at the right house. Tiny and grey-haired, she answers the door swathed in an enormous green cardigan and wearing earrings bearing the distinctive CND symbol.

Now in her late forties, she came to the North-East to study at Newcastle University and has remained in the region, where she now works as a freelance copy editor and publisher. "I became involved in things," she says, meaning CND, which has become her main interest, although she has also campaigned for Shelter and the environmental movement.

"Joining CND seemed to be the natural thing to do because it was such a pressing issue and I've always seen the environmental movement as part of the same thing. War has a devastating effect on the environment and environmental issues, usually resources, are often behind wars. In the case of the Gulf, it's oil."

Treasurer of CND for three years, she still sits on the board of directors. "After the end of the Cold War, people often came up to CND members and said they were surprised we still existed. But until all the nuclear weapons are destroyed, CND is still needed. What's happening with Iraq proves that," she says.

As war begins to look increasingly likely, Monica has been in demand with the media as a commentator. She put the Prime Minister on the spot last month during his Question Time appearance at the Baltic in Gateshead, suggesting it was hypocritical for the US and Britain to demand that Iraq rid itself of its nuclear weapons when we have no intention of destroying our own stockpiles.

It's a subject to which she returns during our interview. "The main problem seems to be that the West has decided it doesn't like Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction. The UK and America have nuclear weapons but that seems to be okay. Who are we to say what is right and what is not?"

Despite the Labour backbench rebellion in the Commons earlier this week, war does seem increasingly likely, but Monica believes there are ways for Tony Blair to avoid conflict, regardless of what America does. The French, Russians and Germans all want the weapons inspectors to be given more time and it seems to her a sensible approach.

"I cannot see how going in and bombing Iraq is going to bring about disarmament. Morally, it seems quite wrong to me to resort to violence without exhausting all other means first. Children at school are told not to bully other children in the playground but when it comes to world politics, countries seem to be able to bully each other. There are certainly not enough resources put into resolving conflicts peacefully," she says.

The Americans come in for particular criticism and what she calls their "Send in the Marines" mentality, a reference to a song by American protest singer, Tom Lehrer. She laughs about it but she knows the consequences could be lethal.

'MILITARY action should always be the last resort but for President Bush, it seems to be the first. I can see that September 11 was an awful shock to the collective psyche, as well as to individuals, but everything now seems to be mixed up. Something attacks and you put all your force against something else in the belief that somewhere out there, is the enemy.

"That can never work. A war that involves two nuclear powers in a region surrounded by other nuclear powers is an extremely hazardous thing. It's like a juggler juggling with flaming torches in the middle of a petrol station."

While the majority of American citizens seem to be in favour of war against Saddam, Monica believes the situation is very different in Britain, and she hopes this will have some influence on the Government's decision about declaring war on Iraq. As a rule, the general public is fairly apathetic, she says, preoccupied with everyday issues such as their jobs and looking after their children. But the prospect of war has made them increasingly aware of the dangers in the world we live in.

"CND is always cautious about estimating the numbers of people who attend demonstrations but the demonstration on February 15 was huge and it attracted a whole range of people, of every age and background. That must count for something.

"I believe war is likely but not inevitable. I am a perpetual optimist and if you feel strongly enough about something, you have got to believe you can do something about it. If I thought war was inevitable, what would be the point of being an anti-war activist?"