Letter: Bright future of `Britannia'

Sir: In the early Fifties the future for Britain looked bright. It could hardly be otherwise, considering the terrible previous decade. There was a purposeful advance in commerce and industry and of course shipbuilding. In particular the building of Britannia on the Clyde was a fine example of British maritime excellence. She was new, state-of-the- art and filled with purpose - a symbol of a bright future for her country and a new, young monarch.

But what now? The future, the confidence, the uncertainty all muddled and clouded. What good could come out of her now? What symbolic gesture could she make? Will she be scrapped? Will she be added to all the other attractions at Greenwich or Portsmouth?

Or could Britannia be responsible for the creation of 600 jobs, the resurrection and security of a listed dry-dock, the regeneration of a run-down and depressed area, the creation of a Maritime Heritage Centre and a magnificent return to the Clyde, where she was built, to be one of Britain's finest examples of symbolic maritime engineering to be maintained in perpetuity for the benefit of future generations? I think so.

PETER MINSHALL

Glasgow