JIM TAGUE (HAS, July 26) yet again fails to let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Under Harold Wilson living standards went up. It’s worth noting that Wilson kept us out of Vietnam during this period, a noteworthy achievement conveniently forgotten by capitalists.

As for unions standing by while pits closed - they shut because they were uneconomical or their coal reserves exhausted. Unions proved that common sense could prevail when it came to closures without mass industrial action.

Miners in the 1960s were taking up employment at Courtaulds and Black& Decker - cleaner, safer jobs that paid more. Miners, mainly from west and central Durham not the east as Mr Tague suggests, couldn’t take these jobs quick enough .

Those who stayed were offered alternative employment at the coastal pits. A major car producer at the time was warned off setting up an in Peterlee, for fear of emptying the pits of miners.

Ronnie Chambers, Hartlepool