A very large ship blocked the Suez Canal, and commentators suggest we broaden the canal. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with such a suggestion, but I am always astonished that conformist citizens supinely accept such a disjointed form of world economics, where the boardroom of some shipbuilding corporation decide to build such a world menace.

I trust that the UK Department of Transport decides the maximum height of pantechnicons on our motorways, so that empty ones are not blown over.

Commercial executives should not be free to decide.

But every child who saw the number of containers on that ship could imagine how many lorries would need to converge on any of the few ports which could accommodate this ship on the day of unloading.

This is grossly unmanageable, artificial congestion of market supplies, inviting disaster. My surprise is that ordinary adults are uncritical of such a divisive world economic system, which makes no effort to find optimum, coordinated mechanisms which would serve all people, and also serve the long term interests of the planet.

N Westerman

South Wales

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