Recalling days of 'Kremlin' (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Recalling days of 'Kremlin'

WHILE Swindon Council Offices were popularly known during the 60s and early 70s as The Kremlin, it remains a matter of conjecture as to whether our councillors would have ventured out of their nuclear-free zone to welcome their Soviet brothers with a white flag.

You think I jest? Ask someone who witnessed the Soviet tanks crushing resistance in Budapest, someone who saw the Soviet occupation of Prague.

I remember a local worthy of the time eulogising in the letters column about the demise of the peace-loving Leonid Brezhnev who the Soviets managed to keep shaking hands long after his formaldehyde bath-time.

This was when Bruce Kent and his cohorts were demonstrating against Britain's nuclear deterrent, while Moscow was replicating our entire inventory of missiles, submarines, tanks and aircraft every six weeks.

We survived, despite those who were only too ready to surrender to the forces of the intolerant but I have an unremitting detestation for those who would have crawled in abeisance to our enemies.

J P HUNTER

Shaw, Swindon