NEARLY 20,000 British soldiers were killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, Saturday, July 1, 1916. Two more British soldiers were killed in Iraq, Tuesday, September 28, 2004.

We now have a total of 68 British dead in the 40th week of this year. It is very few compared with that one day in 1916, but there are still 12 weeks left in 2004, and our Prime Minister tells us we now have a "new" Iraqi conflict.

FRANK L JONES, Malvern.