SO the Skipper goes off in another ill-considered and bad tempered tangent on energy issues. How childish and prejudiced can one get!

First it has to be asked why do we need so much energy and what do we use it on? After all, mankind has survived thousands of years with none of the benefits of our mainstream or alternative technologies. They would have loved solar panels and wind energy.

If he thinks windmills are ugly, has he ever bothered to stop and get out of his car and look at the ugly, noisy and polluted gash on the landscape cars and motorways make? Do windmill critics sit easily in their cars, comforted against reality and the terrible harm they do to the landscape? Why are they not protesting at this destruction? Can anything be more hypocritical?

Domestic energy, heating and lights can now be easily achieved using alternatives such as solar energy, heat pumps, wind technologies and fuel cells combined with high standards of energy conservation materials.

New industry easily fits in with alternative energy sources. Machines and appliances are more energy efficient than ever and can be made more so. So what does take a lot of energy? Transport, especially cars and aeroplanes, which are destroying our environment daily. Imported manufactured goods, often using poverty wages, are increasingly transported by aeroplane, together with cheap flights and tourism.

The answer is for people to work and shop locally, creating local sustainable communities which network with larger economies.

So why on earth does the Skipper panic and propose the nuclear alternative, when all we need is to downscale our activities which will save the world for our children? It is that simple.

Councillor P C Hills, Trecarrack Road, Camborne