Old Father Thames keeps rolling along, down to the mighty sea as he has done for millennia.

Have any of the windmill-brained, greeny bods, who will not sleep until they have wind turbines everywhere, blotting out the sunlight and producing power only once in a blue moon, ever considered using the downfall of the Thames as a way of producing power?

I visited Elling tide mill near Southampton, which was originally built using medieval technology some 900 years ago.

It has used the rise and fall of the tide to grind corn and produce wheat for centuries, so surely the fall of the Thames and other rivers in the UK could be harnessed to produce hydro-electricity?

Billions of gallons of water cascade over weirs up and down the Thames and with 21st century technology employed, surely it would be cheaper, safer and more reliable to produce energy this way?

An added bonus would be that the machinery used could not be anywhere near as intrusive as the waste-of-time wind generators.

I once turned an old Austin Mini into a boat called the 'Minnissipi', which used a paddle wheel linked to a small diesel mixer engine to power the craft on the Thames, so if the paddle wheel was used in reverse to power a generator, free electriciy would be the outcome.

So come on all you greenies, councillors and others - let's get going and do something practical and low cost for a change. Any takers?

TONY ANCHORS Didcot