Several weeks ago, I expressed dismay that at the Last Night of the Proms "those" had been substituted for "these dark Satanic Mills" when William Blake's famous poem Jerusalem was sung.

Thus it was again at the grand finale of this year's sombre event.

By "mills", Blake was referring to the mechanism of our society that produces and even affords protection to spiritual deceivers who glorify in destruction.

Judging by the glee expressed in certain quarters following New York's tragedy, the present tense of the satanic verse has never been more appropriate.

-William Fraser, Summerheath Road, Hailsham