Apologies to Canaletto [johnsadlerillustration.com]

• WHILE I admire Ed Miliband as an advocate for action on climate change, I can’t help feeling he’s barking up the wrong tree with the idea we should have more localised wind turbines scattered about in our neighbourhoods, (MP Miliband claims public will back more ‘Gustys’ if it means lower bills, November 7).

My first reservation is: haven’t we had enough of outsourcing and the way it dilutes accountability? But mainly, as with our rail network and water boards, utilities such as electricity need to have a national perspective for maximum efficiency (look at all the power cuts in privatisation-mad USA).

And how long before some wide boys would take advantage of our abysmally low wages to exploit people by employing them to ride exercise bikes in their lock-ups? Might be cheaper than Octopus?

So that’s the free market, isn’t it? No. Let’s go back to organising our utilities properly in a truly professional way on a national scale. Let’s not revert to pre-industrial cottage industries with turbines whirling around above our barbecues and bird boxes.

L JAMES, WC1