I AM amazed that the subject of possible dumping of nuclear waste in Cornwall at some time in the future has raised its ugly head again.

Over 20 years ago my late husband, with others, used Stannary Law to bound the land at Gwithian where NIREX, the government-funded waste disposal agency, were carrying out experiments to ascertain the suitability of the Cornish geology (perhaps with disused tin mines in mind?) to dump nuclear waste, including looking into its vitrification.

My husband and those with him were arrested for their trouble.

Whether due to the adverse publicity at the time (the arrest was in the national press) or because the industry needed many more years to come to a decision, the idea appeared to fade away, in public, at least.

I cannot believe Cornwall County Council, including Coun Bryan Rawlins, is prepared to consider this idea again, in return for possibly billions of pounds.

No amount of money could compensate for the effect on Cornwall of storing such hazardous waste, with dangerous radiation lasting anything from hundreds to thousands of years. Not just the storage could be a hazard, but also its transportation by rail or road.

The question of whether we, as a country, pursue nuclear power for our future energy needs is a different issue. If we do decide to go ahead and expand the programme - the safest option is storage of waste on site, adjacent to the power stations. This is also an expensive option, which is no doubt why the nuclear industry and the Government are again looking towards Cornwall.

Apart from any possible physical danger from an accident, there would be a profound psychological cost to pay, both to the inhabitants of this beautiful county and to its many visitors.

No amount of money would be worth it. I trust that Cornwall County Counil will reconsider its position and that others will join me in condemning this ludicrous idea.

Ros Toman

Bideford

Brown's to blame

IN spite of Gordon Brown's reiterated statements that the severe financial problems facing our country were caused by the banking crisis in the United States and turmoil in other overseas jurisdictions, it is abundantly clear that the primary responsibility for these difficulties rests with Mr Brown in his role as Chancellor until the end of June 2007, and as Prime Minister since then.

Attention is now being drawn to the fact that when he was Chancellor Mr Brown ignored the dire warnings in the Bank of England's Financial Stability Review in July 2006 about the potentially precarious position of the banking system in the UK, as affected by excessive borrowings by businesses in relation to their permanent capital and by unprecedented and increasingly high levels of personal debt of all kinds.

So Mr Brown and the Labour Government under Tony Blair misled the country in 2006 and Mr Brown continues to do so in his adopted guise as the country's saviour.

But what of the Opposition? For the Conservatives, George Osborne was shadow Chancellor in July 2006 and is still in that post. His main responsibility is to hold the Chancellor of the Exchequer to account. Clearly he failed to do that in July 2006, either because he had not read such an important document as the Financial Stability Review or had chosen to ignore it.

Stanley Booton

UK Independence Party West Dorset

Carte blanche

YOU reported on someone who was found guilty of benefit fraud to the tune of £15,000 over a six-year period.

That person had produced false documents in claiming both council tax and housing tax benefits and had also pleaded not guilty, thereby adding court costs.

As this person was "of previous good character and had done extensive charity work" the sentence was eight months in prison, suspended for two years.

This, surely, is tantamount to a message to the greater British public to supplement income by similar means.

Derek Courtnell

Plymouth

Costly green policies

ENERGY prices in Britain have increased by 16.7 per cent over the past year and are among the only household bills yet to fall (data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development).

Climate change policies make up some 14 per cent of the average domestic electricity bill and 21 per cent of the average business electricity bill. By 2020 green policies will add 18 per cent to the domestic electricity bill and 55 per cent to the average electricity bill (House of Commons report. July 2008).

The latest report reveals that during the cold snap wind farms have ground to a halt, generating a sixth of total capacity and dropping to almost zero at times. There is an obvious conclusion to be drawn from the two reports.

Harry M Randall

Dorchester

Monitor MPs

NOW that Ben Bradshaw, a Government health minister, has announced that the public will be able, by summer, to comment on the performance of our GPs on an NHS website, may we now look forward to the same arrangement being made for MPs' performance ratings to be similarly monitored without having to wait for an election to make one's point?

Lawrence Townsend

Starcross