BEFORE Mrs Corinne Briant (Letters, May 14) makes the very big mistake of condemning me in public, please get your facts correct.

As a published academic, with three degrees (economics, business and English) and a doctorate in maritime economic history, I most certainly am not narrow-minded or ill-informed.

While I admit that the cruise ship industry earns millions of pounds in profits for these companies, per head, they earn virtually nothing for each member of the Southampton population.

By your own admission, Mrs Briant you have never been on a cruise, so you speak from a position of ignorance !

Please, never again, commit your ill-informed judgements about me to print.

DR EDWIN LANCHESTER, Bassett, Southampton.