Power struggle should lead us back to basics

DESPITE the current wind farm plans and the vision of a bright green future for the Hull region, there seems to be a growing acceptance that wind power is negligible as a contributor to our energy needs.

The National Grid’s new Short Term Operating Reserve (STOR) concept is far more expensive than anything seen so far, demanding many thousands of privately owned, heavily subsidised generators (inspected, certified, registered and authorised presumably running on oil).

These are to rectify the failure of the wind farms to produce the goods when necessary. Surely a non-starter, but perhaps a less than serious proposal by the Grid, to emphasise the urgency of their plight.

As things stand, all that is left is a last minute return to previous reliable and affordable ways of producing electricity, reluctantly abandoning any concerns over CO2 levels.

This will provoke much breast-beating on the part of the warmists and eco-freaks. Nonetheless, worldwide co-operation on energy policy is evidently not possible. Control of the variation reaching the Earth, control of ocean temperatures and the jet stream is not within our competence. The scientists are floundering, so whether or not global temperatures change so as to make life impossible appears to be in the hands of the creator.

A defeatist, politically incorrect view, but it’s cheap and I’ve yet to find a convincing argument against it. Research must continue, and any future theories and recommendations from the scientists must be weighed and re-checked very carefully indeed. Dottiness is getting us nowhere.

Time to put whips away

From: Don Burslam, Elm Road, Dewsbury Moor, Dewsbury.

I HAVE already drawn attention to the politicising of the way governments run the country. Now the issues round the NHS have given the ideal example of how such matters are turned into political footballs.

Some topics, eg nationalisation versus privatisation, are innately political but I would argue that health, education, defence etc are more to do with delivering better services and giving better value for money.

It is true that there are controversial issues which lend themselves to divisive debate, eg the national curriculum, but it is ridiculous how all issues of public policy end up with the parties squared off in a confrontation between left and right, Tory and Labour. This process becomes more and more artificial by the year.

In a recent interview, John Sergeant pointed out that in modern society, the issues are more and more apolitical and do not fit easily into the familiar political mould of knockabout.

More flexibility is required in Parliament with more free votes and less party whipping. Politicians can work together as on various house committees and several local councils work perfectly well with no overall control.

I would favour spacing out elections which would give greater stability and continuity. At the moment, true choice and democratic participation are a myth rather than the reality with our distorted and unrepresentative system.

Police need to hit the road

From: Bob Watson, Springfield Road, Baildon, West Yorkshire.

PETER Neal (Yorkshire Post, 
July 23) rightly highlights the dearth of traffic police officers patrolling our roads, and 
how this seems to have encouraged even more unacceptable driving behaviour.

One only has to drive 
around the Bradford area on a regular basis to see how widespread this problem is. No doubt this is also mirrored elsewhere.

What is really needed is a big increase in the deployment of unmarked police cars so that officers can see the appalling driving that we have to regularly contend with. Hopefully they will then be able to be much more pro-active in dealing with this issue.

It is also noticeable that many of these drivers have noisy and illegal exhaust systems, something that is hardly ever seemingly ever dealt with at all.

Additionally, the number of illegally spaced/altered number plates has also reached epidemic proportions. All plates are legally obliged to show the manufacturers’ details, and obviously these illegal plates do not do so.

Much firmer action on this easily spotted offence needs to be taken, as well as properly pursuing the manufacturers of these illegal plates.

Sadly, one currently gets the impression that these sorts of matters are simply ignored by our policing teams.

From: Fr Neil McNicholas, St Gabriel’s parish, Middlesbrough.

HAVING just been on another thrill-packed drive on the M62 and A66, it would seem that 
just at the moment Audis seem 
to be the car of choice – and 
no wonder because they apparently come with a 
notice that dispenses the 
owner from ever having to obey the rules of the road, especially 
speed limits.