SO Councillor D Pearson "finds it very disappointing that the new 'Queen Mary 2' was built in France by French workers using French materials." He ends his lament by saying "surely this should have been built here in Britain" (LET, January 20).

Where would Mr Pearson like to have seen it built -- Belfast, Birkenhead, Glasgow, Newcastle Upon Tyne or Sunderland? They all had a good reputation for building quality ships of large dimensions, but as for the construction of one now in this country -- the places mentioned previously don't exist any more as shipbuilding goes on this scale.

This situation had been coming through the 1970s and worsened under a prime minister who showed more interest in the political activity that was going on in a Polish shipyard than she did in the entire British shipbuilding industry.

Finally, it was her policies that knocked the nails in the coffin of British shipbuilding.

JOHN LEADLEY, Sandhill Street, Darwen.