and we're surprised by this act of two-faced duplicity because....?

Graham, Towcester,

This was the top of my agenda of worries. Thanks for sorting it out! But once again when you look at the small print - funny old thing-its not quite what is says on the tin!!! Typical of this man-and he wonders why nobody believes him on tax cuts!!!! He must think we are fools!!!

Ian, Bristol,

''It will be phased out over eight years''

Does this mean only phased out when they are naturally phased out by our army.

Surly as an arms dealing nation we should expect our companies to sell these to other nations and make a profit on then and a return on all the research and developement

Nicholas Iles, Oswestry, Shropshire

Aaaaaaargh , you couldn't make it up.
Somebody put that loser out of our collective misery.

Nick Dixon, Sutton Coldfield, England

At least when the Alt-A credit crunch soon hits the UK, and resulting slump becomes so serious Broon is forced to call a general election and loses both power and Scotland, the rump will not afford its nasty neo-colonial aggressive wars. Perhaps it'll then use some cluster bombs on its own people.

R. Carolus, Sydney, australia

What a pointless and self-congratulatory treaty. The United States, Russia and China all boycotted the conference, and each maintain vast supplies of cluster munitions. All this has done is hamstring Britain's ability to fight effectively - including in present operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

John Bargh, Salford, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom

A two-faced disgrace.

Tim, London, UK

except, apart from, but, and however - what would the world do without these wonderful words...?

Julie, St Ives,

Brown is not an idiot nor is he a hypocrite. He is a politician. Therefore anyone who believes politicians possess the ability to be humanitarians are the idiots. We are drowning in the actions of ALL these politicians and you what to debate technicalities.

miles willard, london, england

Well done Gordon we were all worried about cluster bombs and not the price of petrol or food or governdment monetary demands on our wallets or council taxes etc etc etc Anyway its nice to know you are still alive and worried asbout the things we don,t worry about.

robinson, eastbourne, UK

Mr Brown,you seem to digging a hole for yourself by siding with the manufacturer without considering the plight to those affected by these weapons.You me you are putting one wrong foot after another.Show some leadership and integrity and not hypocrasy.

Sultan, Manchester, England

Some people complain that bombs and mines are "dangerous". Yes, and their point is?

Of course they are dangerous - indeed they are supposed to be since when we are at war we presumably want to win it.

Mikko Takala, Drumnadrochit, Scotland

Given that there are occasions where we have to kill our fellow humans, it is preposterous to ban certain types of weapons - it would be like trying to have a boxing match sticking to the Marquis of Queensbury rules when your opponent can fight in any way he wishes, and use any weapon he chooses!

Robert Hitchcock, Redditch, England

I guess that it doesn't matter when weapons which splits but detonate on a timed fuse doesn't really count as a cluster bomb. Nor does a weapon with explosive shrapnel. What if what splits are 'miniature' rockets?? i think the burmese junta had killed more children a year than the total collateral killed by mines and clusters in their lifetime.All in all, there's no need to actually use it when u have such a dramatic technological adv over ur opp. but when it gets down and dirty,anything goes...even nuclear

Khim, KL, Malaysia

I did notice that once the Israelis started using cluster bombs against Hizbolla's rocket launching sites that Hizbolla lost it's enthusiasm for launching more rockets.
Cluster bombs work.they do their job very well and they should always be an option for our troops.

Mr G, Leeds, UK

Cluster bombs, anti-personnel mines are deadly. Mines have devastated wide swathes of land in many, many countries. Countries which manufacture, deploy and sell them are immoral to say the least. Treaties should be made "bullet-proof" for Now and the Future and a total ban must be imposed.

Sudhakaran, Tamaki Cho, Japan

I thought the point of a bomb was to kill? The more efficently your bombs works the less likely the enemy will be able to kill you back. And why would children or poor be in a war zone? Its not like these are dropped into cities. And where is the "opponents" data to back up their 30% claim?

kevin, Mission Viejo, USA

This reminds me of an earlier article on here about deceiving Brits.

jayil, london, uk

Cluster bombs, land mines, agent orange etc never kill their designed "targets". It is the poor populations within these regions where they are left that cause untold damage and mutilation for years to come. The British Government should be standing up against this form of artilary.

Paul Harrop, Salisbury East, South Australia

I think the ban of cluster weapons is a brillaint idea. 1 shell landing in an area un-exploded is bad enough as we know from the blitz. But up to 49 un-exploded bomblets is an accident waiting to happen in war zones where civilians live. I think 5 years will be too late for some poeple.

Tom, Nottingham, ENGLAND

What more to say.... big powers in EU makes loop holes for themselves, bigger power US don't even bother with the treaty at all, and all poor litle nations all around the globe falls for it, thinking the big guys are honest. Never trust big powers. Never expect any real goodwill from big powers.

David, Dallas, USA

hi mr gordon brown. if you are going to ban cluster bombs you should ban them all. if they split into two or forty nine bomblets they still do the same thing KILL. so stop them all

robert galpin, cobham surrey, england

But one further example of the awfulness of current culture.
The world awaits a leader who can stop the headlong descent into obliteration.

Tony Tanner, Burringbar, Australia

The next time you complain about human rights in a developing country, slap Mr. Brown first. The amount of human rights abuse caused by this kind of weapons is a war crime.

John Leigh, Tokyo, Japan