DEAR both,

How dare Boris Johnson come to Hinckley Point C last week and declare that the government was prepared to introduce more nuclear power stations to solve our dependence on gas and oil? These apparently could be ‘mini-nukes’ in the lingo of the politicians.

Why has he misguided the public about the true facts of the costs of this reversal of our policy to promote renewable energy sources? Wind turbines whether onshore or offshore have plummeted in price by roughly 75% since the UK hosted in Glasgow the Cop26 summit in November 2021 or the price of oil and gas has risen so sharply due to many factors such as the war in Ukraine to achieve this horrendous prospect facing all households in the next six months.

There is also a likelihood of ‘fracking’ coming back onto the agenda. What kind of sanity or insanity is that?

Time is running out for humanity which Boris Johnson has had the decency to acknowledge by admitting that the clock is ‘only 5 minutes away’ from becoming unsustainable on the planet by the year 2100.with temperatures rising at least two degrees from climate heating in the past century. When will he start to listen to the scientists again whom he so proudly used to support his daily broadcasts from 10 Downing Street? Chris Witty eat your heart out!

I offer this as a programme for the way forward: A) We reduce our consumption of all fossil fuels immediately and reduce air pollution

B) We renounce any return to the use of nuclear power as a means of meeting any shortfall in our energy requirements. It is expensive. I think it is at least five years behind schedule already. It is using still unproven technology as witnessed in both France and Finland where the new nuclear stations being built are years behind in delivery with estimated costs already twice the original budget.

C) Add to this the political uncertainty of the Chinese ownership of this and other nuclear power sites in these dark days of political upheaval what is not to like?

D) We should re-introduce funding for home insulation and the use of solar panels for our housing stock, together with the use of heat pumps where appropriate.

E) The government should stop boasting about achievements it hasn’t obtained and begin to face the reality of the circumstances facing us. We already have enough ‘fake’ news to cope with put out by all forms of media without having to decipher what the Prime Minister is alleging.

Yours etc,

Jefferson Horsley

Taunton