Play fair with Swan Hunter

Fears over the future of the Swan Hunter shipyard on Tyneside continue to grow with the Government, apparently, adamant that it can do nothing to intervene by bringing forward a much-needed order.

So far, so bad.

It would, we are told, set a precedent if the Government were to make such arrangements to accommodate the needs of one specific shipyard.

Now we find that the excuse given for not helping Swan Hunter to plug a gap in its order book did not apply to defence giant BAE Systems and its yard in Glasgow, where 1,700 jobs were at stake.

Are we to assume that 1,500 skilled shipyard jobs on Tyneside are expendable but 1,700 similar jobs in Glasgow are not?

Is it simply the fact that BAE systems is a much bigger company - and, therefore, have more "clout" with the Ministry of Defence?

Or is it a "political" decision? Mr Blair has a track record of treading carefully north of the border where the climate in the Scottish Labour Party has long been somewhat volatile.

Whatever the reason, the policy displays either complete ignorance of how the shipbuilding industry works or complete disinterest.

The facts are simple.

Swan Hunter's order book is due to run out in 2006.

There is then a near two-year gap until it is due to start work on a MoD aircraft carrier contract.

As things stand at the moment, by the time work is due to start on that contract, all the skilled workers are likely to be long gone.

Strange as it may seem to those in Westminster, very few manufacturing workers on Tyneside are in a position to take an 18-month "holiday" between jobs.

The solution is to bring forward work on the aircraft carrier contract.

It has been done before and can be done again.

It is not going to cost any more. All that is required is the political will.

It is not as if we are asking for preferential treatment.

We just want our companies and workers to be treated the same way as competitors in other areas.

Sadly that is an all too familiar call to this Government.

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River crossing has to go with flow

Durham County Council seem to be missing the obvious as it considers what to do about the ford over the River Wear at Stanhope.

For the third time in a year, a vehicle became trapped on Sunday as it attempted to cross the ford when the river level rose.

Durham transport chief Coun Bob Pendlebury wants to investigate the possibility of automatic barriers which rise and fall in relation to the level of the river.

Why bother?

There is a perfectly good bridge just 300 yards from the ford.

We are now in the 21st Century. Crossing rivers by ford should be a thing of the past in all but the remotest parts of the region.

Put up permanent barriers - and leave the River Wear and its shallows at this point to the children and tourists.

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