Good to see Lazenby writing for the Star

Readers may not be aware of how deeply involved Pete was in the 1984/5 miners' strike.

As an industrial correspondent he countered the Tories' lying propaganda, going into pit villages giving miners a platform to show their solidarity and expose police brutality.

In his own town Pete organised fund-raising collections and concerts that raised thousands of pounds to support the strike.

In his article about Kellingley colliery (M Star September 22) Pete describes how North Sea gas was "squandered" to generate electricity, reducing the demand for coal and consequently miners' jobs.

Miners also made the connection between pit closures and the growth of nuclear power.

Developing links with CND, they recognised that nuclear power produced the material for nuclear weapons.

In turn the effects of testing in the Pacific and the plight of uranium miners in Namibia raised anti-racist awareness.

Miners took their banners to the anti-Trident demonstration at Barrow shipyards and Hyde Park in support of Friends of the Earth in 1985.

I met Women Against Pit Closures at Greenham Common. The strike politicised women.

In 1998 objectors were having no success opposing US spy base Menwith Hill's plans to erect a security fence through a site colonised by rare orchids.

Pete published an article headed "Pentagon Versus the Flower People."

He wrote: "A scatter of rare native wetland orchids, some so obscure they haven't yet been identified, could halt the mighty US war machine in its tracks.

"Menwith Hill peace protesters aren't stuffing flowers into the barrels of guns but using them to spike the expansion plans by the world's biggest electronic eavesdropper."

The publicity embarassed the authorities, influencing their decisions to alter the fence line and conserve the site.

Anne Lee
Otley