Eric's peace parade

Mr Richardson (72), from Piltdown, has become a familiar figure in Uckfield and Haywards Heath spending several hours a day spreading his message that war with Iraq would be 'Sad, bad and mad'.

'I never approach anyone but if people want to talk to me about my views then I am happy to do so,' said Mr Richardson who added that his embarrassment at parading in his homemade old fashioned sandwich boards was outweighed by his mixture of anger and sadness over the threat of war.

A new grandson has concentrated his views and he wondered what sort of world children were being brought into. 'I am not sure what is going to come out of this, precious little probably, but at least I can put my head on my pillow at night and feel better about it,' said Mr Richardson who lives in Downstreet, Piltdown, with his wife Liz who supports his views.

'From the humanitarian point of view, environmental and financial we will all be losers in the long run if we go to war. It seems to me we learn absolutely nothing from history,' said Mr Richardson.

He argued that concern about Iraq had got mixed up with concern about terrorism from al-Qaeda and reasoning behind pursuing a war against Iraq was 'absolutely ludicrous'.

'Saddam Hussein had nothing to gain from using any weapons of mass destruction Iraq might have against the USA or UK. If he did that country would be literally obliterated, lifted over the borders of Syria and dumped in the Mediterranean Sea.

'I am not a pacifist, al-Qaeda has to be dealt with on the basis that you can't have other religions or politics being imposed on you, or anybody else in the world. But they should be dealt with internationally by organisations like MI5.'

Mr Richardson was amazed by the amount of support he had received in the street. Most people seemed to share his anti-war feeling, he said.