Up in smoke — the mines that made us great

A GREAT historical event has passed with barely a murmur: Bradley Mine in Co Durham, which has operated for almost 200 years and was England’s last coal mine, has closed.

‘So what’ many may ask. ‘Good riddance,’ they might add.

The Industrial Revolution began with the commercial exploitation of coal. Canals were built to distribute it. It enabled people to move from the country to cities, the production of iron and the development of steam power.

We should remember all those who worked, suffered and died in the industry that enabled this country to become a force to move the world.

I advocate a statue of the Unknown Miner to occupy the vacant plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square to commemorate all who were lost while carrying out such an important, but arduous and dangerous task.

It would also commemorate those in heavy industries such as iron manufacture, ship building, canal and railway construction.

I am the son of a steelworker, and my elder brother, grandfather and great grandfather worked at Irlam Steelworks in Salford.

They are the people who should be given credit for creating our modern world.

J. M. LEIGHToN, Manchester.

Covid questions

I HAVE a couple of questions for the First Minister that I wish someone would ask during her regular ‘election broadcasts’ on the BBC.

If each cluster or outbreak has to have an individual response, why can’t this logic be applied to quarantine restrictions for people returning from abroad?

I can fully appreciate Nicola Sturgeon’s dilemma, but surely travellers returning from islands such as Mallorca and Tenerife, where infection rates are lower than ours, would pose little risk.

Secondly, why are we not learning from Sweden where there has been no lockdown, face masks are not mandatory and life goes on almost as normal?

GoRDoN BLACK, Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

Masking the facts

THE rule for compulsory face coverings has been an outstanding success in Scotland.

Since its inception, the daily rate of infections has increased tenfold, as masks available to the public simply don’t work, but people believe that they do, and therefore no longer take other precautions.

Governments have therefore reintroduced the herd immunity policy, whilst convincing the public that they are actually trying to protect them further.

A very clever strategy, worthy of congratulations.

PETER HARRIS, Nairn.

Tax online giants

THE Chancellor is proposing tax rises to pay for Government spending during the Covid outbreak. He should start with online firms such as Amazon and eBay who have made a killing out of this pandemic.

MIKE HIGGINS, Dundee.

EU’s bullying tactics

THE EU’s chief ‘bully boy’ Michel Barnier is up to his predictable tricks again as he tries to tighten his thumb screws on the UK.

This is ‘standard issue’ negotiating technique, tried and tested over the years to force recalcitrant members to toe the line.

Apparently he has forgotten that the UK withdrew its club membership in January and has no intention of remaining under any form of control or direction by EU bureaucrats. With most economies in intensive care you might think the new reality of Covid-19 would instil a degree of mutual co-operation as an essential ingredient in restoring economic stability. Apparently not so with the EU Commission – everything must be done to preserve its supremacy in all matters European.

GRAHAM WYLLIE, Airdrie, Lanarkshire.

Oh deer, wrong loch

I LOVED the Blue Planet stag in Friday’s Mail.

But how on earth did a foregound of a Kinross-shire water’s edge get into the same shot as a background of what looks like a Highland mountain range and a bridge suspiciously like one about 100 miles west of Kinross?

Here’s a wee clue: could there be TWO Loch Levens in Scotland?

An A-plus to Michael Ross for a great photo – but not an A pass to the Mail for geography!

C. ALLAN, Fife.

Voicing disapproval

I HAD the misfortune to have to sit through that nasty and exploitative TV programme The Voice

Kids. It’s not about the kids, it’s about the panel whose members seem to be blind to the damage that could be caused to the children and their parents.

If only we had a National Room 101! I would be first in the rush to pull the lever to bin this disgusting and damaging programme.

ALLAN BELL, Edinburgh.

Bad marks for M&S

AS SAD as it is to hear of 7,000 job losses at M&S, it will be no surprise to customers.

I agree with the Mail’s Business Editor Ruth Sunderland when she says that the High Street without M&S is too awful to contemplate.

A serious error is the targeting of customers who are super slim. The choice and quality for average-sized people like me has tumbled. M&S was once a byword for quality, choice and value. Sadly, I feel this no longer applies.

BRIAN QUINN, Manchester.