Letter: Coal consciousness

Sir: I have just written a second letter to Michael Heseltine, the first having been sent last autumn. The subject, of course, was pit closures, and I am ashamed that in the interim my mind strayed far from the miners' plight.

What is happening to the coal industry now is as bad as, if not worse than, the situation before Christmas. What price our high-minded protests then if we were not willing to follow them through? How many others received the bland reply from Whitehall and, consciences salved, consigned it to a bottom drawer?

Public protest forced the Government's hand in the autumn. Surely it can do so again?

Yours sincerely,

ALISON STANCLIFFE

Ryton, Tyne & Wear

18 June