PETE Winstanley is correct: Islam has not officially announced a holy war against the West (HAS, July 7).

But this is naive. Islam has a long history of gradually suppressing other cultures and attempting to turn non-Islamic countries into Islamic states.

For example, in Turkey the army has seen it necessary to state on its website that it will intervene if necessary to defend democracy against Turkish Muslims.

Islam has already degraded traditional British culture. We used to have freedom to mock religion - for example, cartoons that mocked vicars. No longer. You won't see any cartoons that mock Islam: newspaper editors reckon it's just not worth it. And had the religious hatred Bill been passed, editors would feel even more constrained.

Add to this the fact that a third of young Muslims in the UK think that anyone leaving the faith should be killed and it is clear that Winston Churchill was right when he described Islam as "the most retrograde force in the world".

Thus Mr Winstanley's claim that the problem lies only with "a small bunch of Muslim lunatics" is an over-simplification: the problem is more deep-seated.

Ralph Musgrave, Durham.