However, his letter (Yorkshire Post, September 16) about the European regions was not helpful.

They were first defined for the whole of the EU by an EU Commissioner, Paul Romus in 1971. The first map of the regions to be issued showed nine EU regions in England without a mention of England. Of course, they built on suitable regions where they existed, Scotland and Wales becoming EU regions, but in England mainly they were new
concepts joining up areas which had little or no cultural or historical links.

Take, for example, my region of East Midlands, which takes in the Peak District with Lincolnshire. What was the thinking behind this? Our region will have significance in June next year when we will elect our six members of the European Parliament for
East Midlands. We do hear of them and their activities from time to time.

Then there is the European Committee of the Regions in which I understand there are three representatives for East Midlands but who they are or what good they do I haven't a clue. And I understand some of our money taken in taxes by the Treasury and sent to Brussels comes back to our region via our regional assembly quango to be passed on to our county and district councils for them to spend in accordance with
EU rules.

Does it have to be so complicated? Will someone please explain.

From: John Fisher, Menwith Hill, Harrogate.

HAVING listened to some of the complaints about our membership of the European Union, I wonder if those proposing our exit from the EU have considered the possibility that not all of the UK would be keen to follow.

For a start, I doubt if Alex Salmond and the Scottish National Party would relish the prospect of life outside Europe. Who can guarantee that Northern Ireland and Wales would not also have second thoughts on leaving the EU?

Could one imagine a situation with part of the UK with the pound and Scotland using the euro. I am convinced that any attempt to leave the EU would open a Pandora's box which could damage both the UK and any political party behind such a move.

The problems facing this country were present long before we joined the European Union and will be still be here if we left. Instead of mindless referendums about treaties that most people, if they were honest, do not understand, the people of Britain should be asked in a referendum what really concerns them with regard to this country.


Changing world brings need for grain stores


From: John Gossop, Swinefleet, Goole.

THE world should be breathing a huge sigh of relief that the northern hemisphere 2008 harvest has yielded big crops due to excellent weather and growing conditions in most regions.

The food shortages of 2007 were managed by the market, prices went up and the poorest people in the world had to tighten their belts even further, stretching out available supplies. Higher prices also encouraged farmers to produce as much as they could in 2008.

Food prices are now falling which is great news for consumers, especially the poor, but bad news for farmers, whose production costs have risen dramatically in the last year.

We should remember that both 2007 and 2008 were exceptional years and that food supplies are bound to be tight in the future.

The fundamental problems of a world population rising by 80 million a year, combined with the better diets expected by the billions in Asia will mean that demand will rise rapidly while each year the world loses about 25 million acres of land due to urbanisation, desertification, salination and biofuel production. Scientists also predict that climate change will cause drought in major food-producing regions.

However, the biggest medium-term problem is that our food production system is now nothing more than a method of converting finite fossil energy into a much smaller amount of food energy.

This worked well when supplies of oil for power and pesticides, and gas for nitrogen fertiliser were cheap, plentiful and reliable, but will not work when the opposite is the case.

As fossil fuels are finite, at some stage our input of fossil calories will have to decrease and therefore so will our output of food calories.

Food production and prices will be volatile in the future as climatic events become more extreme and as our energy inputs become less secure.

Now would be a good time for governments to build strategic grain reserves to protect the public from the disaster that a series of poor harvests would bring.

In the UK, a two million ton reserve would only cost about £300m-plus fairly low storage costs. As most government projects cost billions, this would be cheap insurance.