Section:GDN 1J PaGe:6 Edition Date:190815 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 14/8/2019 16:58 cYanmaGentaYellowbla
- The Guardian Thursday 15 Aug ust 2019
6 Letters
Your article on Hinkley Point C
outlines the rising costs, long delays
and the mental health crisis among
the employees building this new
nuclear power station ( Report ,
14 August). It suggests the much -
delayed project may be delivered
around 2025-6. But even this
assessment should be treated with
caution. An identical reactor being
built at Flamanville in France, which
was started in 2007, was supposed
to open in 2012. The French nuclear
regulator has now sought more work
on faulty welds across the reactor,
meaning another three -year delay
until 2022. The additional costs will
burden EDF further and inevitably
impact on Hinkley Point C. I agree
with the National Infrastructure
Commission that the costs and
delays to new nuclear are such
that the UK has to refocus on more
deliverable and cheaper renewable
energies. Across the board these are
being delivered now and we simplyTumbling towards a
no-deal catastrophe
Nuclear energy and alternatives
England is one of the only large
countries that does not wait for
confi rmed results before off ering
places on higher education courses,
and Jo Grady is absolutely right to be
calling for a new system ( Education ,
13 August). The education system
is changing, so we need to make
sure the applications process is still
fi t for purpose. W e’ve seen a rapid
rise in unconditional off ers. These
cannot be justifi ed and are not in the
interests of students. However, they
are largely a response to an increase
in competition between institutions.
We need wide-reaching
change to build a fair and transparent
post-qualifi cations system. It is
too easy to talk up the risks of
changing the system without fully
recognising the benefi ts. It is high
time we approached this in an open-
minded way and use our combined
eff orts to support a planned approach
to transform the process for theTransforming uni
applications system
Hoppy
days
‘Taken on
Shetland in
March 2019.
There was a
pond full of
frogs. Not seen
so many since I
was a child.’
MARK RAYMENT/
GUARDIAN COMMUNITY
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these pagesbe drawn from the past three years is
that the electorate should be invited
to reconsider Brexit on the basis of
full information the truthfulness of
which can be tested.
Bernard Staff ord
Yo rk- Gisel a Stuart speaks of a deal not
being possible but of course it is if
the government would accept the
one Theresa May agreed with the
EU. What may not be possible is for
them to accept the removal of the
Irish backstop, but this is something
only the UK out of 2 8 nations is
demanding. No club would change
its rules if only one member was in
favour and the rest against.
Dr Richard Turner
Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire - I voted Brexit in the original
referendum; mainly because of the
reported widespread corruption in
Brussels and because of my personal
and professional experience of
prescriptive regulation stifl ing
innovation and entrepreneurial
business. However, approaching four
years on from the dishonest claims
by politicians and the discussion
before that referendum, we now
know so much more. There is a very
complex, well-developed, integrated
supply chain between businesses
and consumers across the EU and
with international trade. It took 40
years to develop and will take just as
long to develop a new one, but we
start off on the back foot if we leave.
That is even if we accepted the deal
negotiated by the last PM’s team.
of the time, and used up a much
higher proportion of its fuel. It could
use spent fuel from conventional
reactors as its fuel, converting the
“waste” into something that only
needed to be stored for a few hundred
years, rather than thousands.
Unfortunately, the project
was cancelled by the Clinton
administration. It is good that the
MSR is again being pursued , but the
IFR also needs to be reconsidered.
Mike Ellwood
Abingdon, Oxfordshire- The sudden energy failures ( Report ,
13 August) are a result of capacity
problems, namely the phasing out of
tried and tested coal -fi red stations.
By all means bring on renewables but
keep the tried and tested on stream
to come into their own for the events
we have just witnessed. Capacity
problems also infl ate prices. It is
imperative that proposed closures
of remaining coal -fi red stations such
as Fiddlers Ferry in Warrington are
cancelled or at least suspended.
John Barstow
Pulborough, W est Sussex
In an eff ort to promote a no-deal
Brexit, Gisela Stuart asserts “ let’s
be clear about one thing: the voters’
decision to leave the European
Union and how politicians have gone
about implementing the result are
two diff erent issues ... the paralysis
of indecision ... has been corrosive
and damaging” ( Opinion , 12 August).
She goes on to insist on the absolute
imperative of respecting the result
of the 2016 referendum. It would be
hard to come up with a more fl awed
and misleading interpretation of the
past three years than that.
The present Brexit impasse arises
not from poor governance and
irresolute politicians but from a
rational collective judgment – now
that some of the costs of the Brexit
alternatives have become clearer,
there is no majority in parliament
and the country for any means of
achieving the outcome voted for in
the 2016 referendum. The will of
the people as of 2016 is inconsistent
with the somewhat better informed
will of the people now.
The fundamental source of this
diff erence is the lack of democratic
content in the 2016 Brexit vote. A
political vote is only democratic if the
electorate has access to reasonably
comprehensive and honest
assessments of the consequences of
voting one way or the other. In 2016
this information was unavailable
through a combination of the use of
blatant untruths and omissions.
This impasse will not be overcome
by blustering exhortations to deliver
on the result of a seriously fl awed
referendum. The right conclusion todo not have the time to wait for new
nuclear. Let’s go for an expansive
renewable energy system, backed up
with energy effi ciency and energy
storage. The climate emergency is
too pressing for us to take our time.
Councillor David Blackburn
Chair of UK & Ireland Nuclear Free
Local Authorities Steering Committee- Prof Neil Hyatt ( Letters , 8 August )
suggests we should be considering
doing something with our existing
nuclear waste. There is something
that could be done to make the
problem much easier to solve, and
also provide a way of generating
power that is free of CO^2 emissions.
Between 1984 and 1994, Argonne
National Lab in the US was working
successfully on a project called the
integral fast reactor (IFR). Like the
molten salt reactor (MSR) pioneered
by Oak Ridge National Lab, it was
inherently safer than the light-water
reactors used in most power stations
Philip Hammond is reported
recently as having said that a no-deal
Brexit would result in a lonely “little
England”. He is right. In the event of
Brexit, Scotland’s fi rst minister has
stated clearly that she will push for
a second referendum on Scottish
independence. Labour “will not
get in the way” of that. The EU will
give every possible incentive to
Scotland to leave the UK and join
the EU. The Northern Ir ish border
will be a potentially explosive issue
and many Protestants will go to
Scotland resulting in the reunifi cation
of Ireland. Wales is already very
dependent on the EU and likely to
go the same way as Scotland.
So, yes, Hammond is right : if
Brexit goes through, with or without
a deal, Boris Johnson is very likely to
be the last PM of the United Kingdom.
Common sense says that parliament’s
duty is to act and insist now that there
is another referendum with the option
of wiping the slate clean, revoking
article 50 and staying in the EU.
Bill Butterworth
Devizes, Wiltshire- As an Anglo-Welsh European
I was interested to read John
Denham’s piece on English
nationalism ( Opinion , 13 August),
but disappointed by the familiar
whiff of sullen resentment towards
Scottish and Welsh devolution. The
reason Scotland and Wales now
better. England’s colleges are ready
to help lead the way.
David Hughes
Chief executive at the Association
of Colleges- The annual obsession with
A-level grades refl ects an age when
few were deemed worthy and
capable of benefi tting from higher
education, to an age when it is widely
recognised that everyone benefi ts
from continuing education and the
highly educated society this brings.
We should look to expand higher
education to the population, not
contin ue to obsess over A-levels.
Roy Boff y
Formerly senior adviser for further
education, Dudley LEA - If ( only) three out of 10 students
end up paying off their student
debts ( Report , 13 August), well that
leaves 70% in debt for most of their
li ves ... an horrifi c outcome for little
public purse return, but great for
the private debt company.
Rowan Vuglar
London
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and conditions:
see gu.com/
letters-termsIf Brexit goes through,
with or without a deal,
Boris Johnson is very
likely to be the last PM
of the United KingdomBill Butterworthhave limited control over their own
aff airs is because they fought and
campaigned for this kind of civic
nationalism for decades. If English
people really wanted their own
regional parliament, they could have
done likewise, instead of constantly
playing the victim and voting for a
gang of Brexit fanatics to wreck the
country and drag the rest of the UK
down with them. At this late stage,
the best remaining option is to revoke
article 50 so the rest of the UK can
stay in the EU, then let England
secede from two unions it has never
understood and clearly despises.
Chris Webster
Gümligen, Switzerland- I have read so much about the
eff orts being made to prevent Boris
et al pushing through a no-deal
Brexit, and their aim to do this
alongside a strategy for winning
the election afterwards. But isn’t it
possible this über-Machiavellian
power hub could be planning to get
Brexit through without a deal, call
an election immediately with all the
hell and chaos ensuing, and be quite
happy for Labour to win so they
would not be able to carry out their
hugely needed social healing policies
because they need to cope with the
fall out of Brexit and a below-the-
plimsoll-line economy. Then they
would collapse as a government and
Boris could win back power and,
bingo, be there for the long haul.
Angela Neustatter
London - Before we get too carried away about
the prospects of increased trade with
America ( Report , 13 August), it’s worth
remembering that the carbon cost of
importing or exporting a given item
could be roughly 100 times greater
than to Europe (3,000 miles v 30).
Mick Crawley
Ascot, Berkshire
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