YOUR SAY: Where's the funding for more hospital staff and equipment?

The big problem nobody seems to realise is that there is no extra funding for the running of the hospital so no more nurses, doctors or equipment. Build as many new wards as you can but they will not open because there are no staff to operate them.

Our hospital receives between 33 per cent and 50 per cent less funding than comparable sized hospitals, so it's still going to be a third world hospital.

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Your correspondent John Lindner (October 28) asks if his conclusions and those of Neil Drew on the economics of solar power vs nuclear power are "completely wrong".

I will doubtless upset those that think they are, by suggesting the opposite - that such scepticism on the ability of renewable energy sources to provide day-round and year-round power economically is well founded.

John Lindner's calculations are in fact far too generous, as during winter an average of three hours of sun a day is good for solar; this winter it has been closer to one hour a day for months. In addition this calculation is flawed, as the unpredictable variability of solar means it cannot be used without some balancing mechanism such as batteries or pumped hydro, both of which add significant costs. Batteries also have a short life and are very expensive - though very profitable for the industry.

So although a 100 per cent renewable energy grid might be ultimately desirable, it certainly won't bring cheap clean power; for that gas is the best available option, both for electricity generation and used directly for heating, cooking and industry. Trying to cut gas out of the picture, as our western allies have done by sanctioning and then blowing up the vital gas pipelines from Russia, is both misdirected and expensive.

Europeans will soon find out the limitations of solar and wind power in the short dark days of the northern winter when their gas storages run out. Ironically those renewable sources of energy including hydro are most affected by the extremes of climate we are now seeing as a result of decades of fossil fuel burning. Even more ironic is that we will need to burn even more of them to survive the dark and dangerous times ahead, but may be thankful that the shortages and high prices of gas are also man-made!

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