I WONDER if Mr Greenhalgh quite understood what I was saying about the people who were deserving of respect. By no means all of them, but many of the ones who I have in mind as I wrote the letter will now be elderly and long since retired, but were at one time highly trained engineer surveyors with what I consider was extremely valuable knowledge and a desire to see work carried out safely by a company that many locals referred to as “the cancer factory”.

Be assured, Mr Greenhalgh, chemically induced cancer certainly has an influence on one’s daily life. You are correct, though, in thinking that heads should roll, but all too often it turns out to be the wrong heads that roll. Routinely trotted- out excuses for failure in many institutions can certainly be a pain in the proverbial, that’s for sure.

Incidentally and nothing whatsoever to do with Mr Greenhalgh, my letter published as “No Offence, Tom” on August 13 has an omission that stops it making sense. The hump-backed whale is the main instigator of the symphony of the deep and what was published doesn’t mention that fact.

Walt Jackson Llantrisant Usk